Black Dragon -Rewrite
by ScarlettScales
Summary: Lillian ran away when she was just a teen. Away from her mother's harsh ways. Finding friends in Bucky Barnes and Steven rogers was just the start. Lily had a lot more problems than a war or her secret mutant powers. She had to Worry about The Order. (Bucky/OC)
1. Chapter 1

' _Again! You must be swift!_ '

 _'No Daughter of mine should be so weak!_ '

 _'You will fight or you will starve!_ '

''Tink? Tinkerbell!'' Jolting back into her right mind, she looked up at him. ''Lily, What are you doing?''

''Sorry, Buck, what were you saying? I wasn't listening.'' He smiled at her answer, walking over and dropping an arm over her shoulder.

''As always. What kind of trouble would you get in if I weren't around?''

' _Oh, if only you knew_.'

Lillian Akiyama was a Japanese-American woman and she was just a little more special than she let on. She was Twenty four years old with long black hair and green eyes, something she got from her father.

Lillian ran away from home when she was fifteen, unable to handle her living conditions at that time, as they were more difficult than any could have imagined. Lillian's mother was a harsh woman who ran her own secret order of assassins, they were named - The brotherhood of Draco.

Gao Akiyama was the head of this order - her codename was Red Dragon and from the moment Lillian made it clear that she could, her mother put her to work. Training was relentless and if she didn't obey her mother, she was to Starve; no allowed any food from the moment she disobeyed until the morning of the next day.

Sometimes it wasn't long, but other times it could be a whole day because Lillian could eat something. What made it a little more bearable, was her specialness.

Lillian was, in all sense of the word, a mutant and her mutant abilities included the power of Flight, invisiblity, self healing and strength. Lillian could lift a car if she wanted to.

At the age of thirteen, Lillian was forced into a room and tied to a chair, in which she had to sit and bear the pain of a tattoo. It started on her ankle, a tail, the rest curled up and around her calf, around her knee and ended with face in the middle of her thigh.

An oriental dragon.

Sometime after running away, Lillian met a nice elderly woman who took her into her home and looked after her. Some more time after that and she met two men by the name of Steven Rogers and James 'Buchanan' Barnes, who usually went by the name of Bucky.

Almost ten years past with no trouble from her mother or the order. Ten years filled with love from this caring elderly lady until she passed away when Lillian turned Twenty Two. Unable to sustain the house left in her name, Lillian took in another woman to help with the money.

Ten years is an awfully long time and in that time, Lillian grew close with Steve and Bucky, closer to Bucky though. He was so handsome and so brave, and of course, she knew him; like the back of her hand. The two men nicknamed her Tinkerbell, for the way that her face turns red when she's angry.

Also because she's as small as Steve, who stands at around 5 feet.

When America joined the second world war, Lillian had no choice but to return to violence. As Bucky and Steve, both wanted to join the war but only one managed to enlist due to Steve's height and fraglity, he wasn't eligible to be the soldier he so wanted to be.

Lillian enlisted in secret, she knew that if Bucky and Steve were to know she wanted to do this to be with them, then she would never hear the end of it. She loved them both, in different ways, but she still loved them.

Lillian's whole, 'I'm a woman who needs to be protected' persona was starting to become tedious, starting to annoy her rather than give her the content it used to give. Neither Steve nor Bucky knew she ad enlisted, while Bucky was off training and Steve was trying to enlist; they both just thought she was working her normal office job.

Lillian kept that secret quite well. Until today.

She was at home, packing the necessary and important bits which were mostly her selection of blades when a knock on the door was heard. Lily was confused, she wasn't expecting anyone, let alone the man she saw standing outside the front door.

''Bucky? I didn't know you were back!'' A wide smile planted itself on her face, her heart beating a mile a minute at the handsome copy of her smile on his face. Lily lurched forward, arms around his neck to hug him tightly.

''Yeah, got back not too long ago.''

''And?'' she dragged the word out, inviting him into the house. ''How did it go?''

Bucky laughed, dropping himself into a nearby chair. ''As expected. I'm a Sergeant now. Shipping out to England at the end of the week.''

Lily kept the smile off her face, she was also going to be a part of the war at the end of the week. ''That's- that's great. You'll be careful, won't you? I'd be heartbroken if anything happened to you, you know that.''

''Yeah, I know. Listen, Tink, I-'' Bucky lifted a hand, rubbing the side of his face, one of the tells that he was nervous about something.

''You're nervous? Why? What's wrong?'' Lily came forward, kneeling in front of where he sat, removing his shoes like a doting wife. He allowed it, this was normal behaviour for Lily when he and Steve were round.

''Nothing! Lily, I Just... Its months and I've been trying to figure out how to tell you.'' Lily was looking up at him with confusion, still kneeling in front of him, waiting for him to speak.

''Tell me what?''

''Tell you exactly how you have me wrapped around your finger so tightly I just can't shake you.'' Exhaling softly in surprise at his answer and the equally soft look in his, Lily stood up and stared down at him.

Slowly, Bucky stood from the chair he was sat in, placing his hands on her waist and she let him. He could tell she had frozen, in her mind he knew she was thinking at breakneck speeds and he wasn't wrong.

All Lily could think about was the burning imprint his hands were leaving on her as they moved just that little bit further to rest on her hips. She was nose to chest and he had moved close enough to the point that her nose brushed against his chin as she looked up to look at him.

For a moment, he just stared. Eyes darting across her face to find any indication that she was going to allow him to do this, his indication came in the form of her tilting her head up just that little bit more.

Lillian' heart lifted with excited when she felt his lips close to hers, his breath across her face and she closed her eyes in anticipation, ready to be kissed.

''Oh!'' Lily and Bucky pulled themselves away from each other. ''Sorry! Lillian, I'm so sorry!''

It was her roommate, Ruth, who was supposed to have been at work all day until late that night. Lily shook her head to indicate that Ruth didn't need to apologise but she couldn't help but feel a little bit mad at Ruth and her bad timing.

''Hi, Ruth.'' Bucky greeted, rubbing the side of his face as if he were trying to wipe away the fact that they had almost been caught kissing - Like it was some big crime.

''Hello James.'' Ruth smiled kindly, passing the two of them and walking up the stairs. Bucky sighed, the atmosphere from before fading to nothing as he turned and slipped his feet back into his shoes.

''I should go.'' Lily gave a couple of nods, not really wanting him to go but she wasn't going to force him to stay. She walked him to the door and stayed there, leaning against it as she waited for him to say something.

He lingered for a few minutes, ultimately shaking his head and going to walk away. Lily's heart dropped a little in disappointment and she went to close the door.

''I want to take you out!'' Bucky had turned quickly, rushing the words out to the point that Lillian had hardly understood him. She halted closing the door, the feeling of disappointment leaving as he spoke again. ''Somewhere nice. If you'd like.''

''I'd go anywhere with you.''

Spurred with the regular confidence he usually had, Bucky walked back up to the door and leaned down to press his lips against her cheek. ''You may live to regret that, Tinkerbell.''

Lily smiled and huffed out a laugh but otherwise said nothing as she was Bucky turn again, walking away to go wherever his feet took him. She watched him go until he was out of sight, unable to tear her eyes away until he had actually gone.

''You're all kinds of wacky for that one, Aint ya?'' Ruth said, reappearing from the top of the stairs. ''I can't blame ya, He is rather dishy.''

Lily hummed in agreement, moving away from the door to carry on with her day and she was absolutely brimming with excitement.

* * *

 **REwritten version! Some of it will stay the same . Im just fixing a few things.**


	2. Chapter 2

Lily stood on the tips of her toes, lightly using her ability of flight to help her see over the throws of people around, the tattoo on her leg unable to be seen in her dress as she used her invisibility on that one spot to hide it from sight.

''Hey Bucky!'' She waved, calling out to him the moment she saw him. She hadn't seen him all day, this was the first time since he had called earlier to ask her to the Modern Marvel's Pavillion that had been shown in the newspapers.

He had also asked for help in finding a date for Steve.

Lily hugged Steve as he came close ''Hi Stevie.'' Steve welcomed the hug as he always did. ''This here is Florence, she works in the office with me. Florence, this is my best friend, Steven.''

''How are you Ma'am?'' Steve was nervous, she could tell. All Bucky's attempts to get Steve a lady had failed, the women were far too picky, opting for a larger, stronger man rather than the sweet and gentle Steve. None of them really gave him a chance.

Lily turned her attention to Bucky, who was all dressed in his Sergeant uniform. ''Sergeant Barnes, The way you look in this uniform is bonkers.'' she reached up with her hands to tug gently on the lapels of his coat.

''Not as bonkers as you look in that dress,'' Was his comeback, ever the charmer.

' _Welcome_ _to the Modern Marvels Pavilion and the world of tomorrow. A greater world. A better world.'_

The four of them walked around for a little bit, Lily's hand firmly in Bucky's as though he never wanted to let her go too far from him. There were a lot of cool things around the pavilion but Lily was waiting for something better.

''Oh! It's starting!'' Lily exclaimed as she heard the commotion, she reached behind Florence to grab Steve's hand since he was behind them, Florence hadn't so much as said another word since their first meeting and angered Lily.

Steve and Bucky were forced to try and keep up with Lily while she darted towards the stage, pushing her way through the people and stopping so abruptly that the two men almost went into the back of her.

It always surprised them how fast she ran, even though it had been many years since they first witnessed her running, it was still amazing.

 _Ladies and gentlemen. Mr Howard Stark_

Howard Stark was the kind of man that every other man had to compete with. If you had a girl chances are she was more interested in Howard Stark than you, she'd love but always wish she had a chance with Howard Stark.

Lily had expressed her admiration for Howard Stark and Bucky often found himself a little jealous whenever she mentioned him. Since the start of the week though, she hadn't spoken a word about Howard's new inventions.

The man in question came on stage as showgirls gestured, he took off his hat and pulled one of the girls in for a quick kiss, wiping his mouth with a handkerchief afterwards.

''Ladies and Gentlemen, what if i told you that in just a few short years, your automobile won't even have to touch the ground at all.'' The showgirls removed the wheels from the car on stage, Lily stepped backwards in case something were to happen but found herself bumping into bucky, who she hadn't felt was standing so close behind her.

She smiled up at him and he did the same down at her.

''Yes. Thanks, Mandy'' Howard thanked her before addressing the audience again. ''With Stark gravitic reversion technology, you'll be able to do just that.'' Howard turns a dial and pushes a lever and the car starts to hover off the ground, and orange glow under the fenders.

''Holy cow'' Bucky spoke, not sounding particularly awed at it. A few moments of holding and the technology under the fenders started to spark before the entire car slammed back to the stage.

''I did say a few years, didn't I?'' Howard saved his failed invention with a dazzling smile though Lily could tell he was annoyed it hadn't worked.

''Hey Steve, What do you say we treat these girls to-'' Lily heard Bucky speak before cutting himself off, turning her head in confusion, she saw him looking for Steve - who had vanished from sight.

''Hey Tink-''

''Go.'' Lily smiled, interrupting him. ''You know how badly he wants this.''

''I'll be right back.'' Bucky promised. ''Then we are going dancing.'' Lily watched him leave again, off to find Steve who was no doubt going to try and enlist in the war again.

As soon as Bucky was far enough away, Lily sighed and turned her head towards Florence. ''You might as well leave, Florence. You've ignored Steve the entire time and he's not coming back.''

''I can't believe you tried to set me up with that.''

''And I can't believe that you're thick as shit.'' Florence visibly flinched at the harsh tone, surprised too. Lily had never spoken like that to her in the time that she had been working in the office. As far as Florence was concerned, Lillian was a precious and kind woman but here she was, glaring with the anger of a thousand scorned men.

''Well I never! Where has this come from!?'' Florence said, offended after the initial shock had dispersed.

''Oh this has always been here,'' Lily replied with a smile. ''The shy, gentle girl you knew is not me and it never was. It was a lie. I don't care about your family, I don't care about your brother going on a bender again and I don't care about what clothes you bought. It's all mindless chatter and would have worked in silence.''

''Lillian! How-''

''Hello again Ladies.'' Bucky's timed appearance almost made her jumped, forgetting to be aware of her surroundings as she spoke to Florence.

''Bucky!'' Lily exclaimed, turning to face him with a wide happy smile that Florence now saw right past. Knowing Lily for the woman she was. ''Steve's going to try again then? I thought so, so I told Florence that she might want an early night. She agreed, She's going home now, Say goodbye.''

''Oh!'' Bucky's eyebrows shot up in surprise, though enjoyed the thought of him dancing with her without the thought of leaving a lady alone. ''Well, Goodbye. It was nice to meet you, Florence.''

Florence looked like she wanted to expose Lily, but the rise of said woman's eyebrow was enough to chase the thought away. ''And you, Goodnight.''

Florence left and Lily looked back up at Bucky. ''So Dancing?''

''Dancing.'' Bucky's arm wrapped around her back and pulled her close, leading her towards the crowd of dancing people. It was a wonderful night and aside from Florence, Lily thought it would get better.

She was wrong.

It was a little late, Bucky was walking her home when it started to rain. It was a lovely walk in the rain, he knew she loved the rain, she loved the sound it made against the ground, against windows when she tried to sleep.

He loved how happy she looked, walking beside him, sometimes even skipping ahead a little. Like right now, just a few steps ahead of him, turning to give him that beautiful smile when she was snatched from the side.

''Lily!''

Strong, thick arms were curled around her waist, pulling her deeper into the alleyway she was walking past. She could see Bucky chasing after her captor, his arm outstretched for her to grab it, there was no other way she was going to escape this hold so she threw out her hand and grabbed his hand the moment it was in range.

Using her feet against the thighs of her captor while Bucky pulled to get her away from him. Being small, her hips managed to slip right through his arms with a little wiggling and she fell towards her date.

''You're getting in my way.'' The stranger said. ''Give me Black Dragon and I will not harm you.''

Lily's heart froze over with fear and hatred, turning to look at the man who knew who she was. He was tall, muscley and had a tattoo of a cockroach on the front of his neck. ''Not a chance, Creep.''

''Run.'' Lily told Bucky, pushing her hands against his chest to force him away. ''Run away, Please!''

''No. He can't grab you like that.'' Bucky refused to move, instead choosing to push Lily behind him protectively. ''I don't care who he thinks you are, he won't touch you like that again.'' Lily loved how brave Bucky was, she really did love it but she was more concerned with his life.

''I have no need for you.'' The enemy spoke again. ''Move, or you will be moved.'' Bucky said nothing, he only stood his ground in front of Lillian and she couldn't watch him get himself killed, she wouldn't. He didn't know who this man was, what he was apart of. ''Very well.''

She saw the glint as he moved, he was considerably bigger than Bucky and he wouldn't have mercy. ''No!'' Lily moved from behind Bucky within a second, raising her leg and kicking out her foot to collide with the man's stomach.

He was sent back from the force of the kick, landing on his back and the knife was let go of. ''You dare threaten him again and you will die a slow, painful death.''

''Lily?'' She ignored Bucky for the moment as her enemy stood back up.

''As fast as ever.'' He said to her, speaking with a familiarity that confused Bucky. As the woman in front of him stood strong in a balanced stance, staring her enemy down without fear. ''It's a shame you're weak of heart.''

''Caring for others makes me strong. I wouldn't expect a cockroach to know about that. How did you get your name.''

''I'm hard to kill.''

''You'll be nameless when I'm done with you.''

Cockroach chuckled ''The Order needs you back, Black Dragon.''

''That is not my name''

''That is your name to us.'' Cockroach retaliated, ''We know all about you. We know you were trained first with the four different styles of Chinese martial arts. Tai chi, Ba Gua, Hung Gar and Northern Shaolin kung fu.''

''None of this information will help you in facing me.'' Lily informed, lowering into a stance unfamiliar to Bucky of course. Cockroach got into his own stance but then immediately made the first move, Kicking out with his leg.

Lily was quick to counter, using the palm of her hand to push the oncoming foot down. They were back in their stances, Lily making the first move before Cockroach could even think of his. She was fast, Both Bucky and Cockroach had to admit.

She jumped towards him, literally jumped. Using his bent knee as a step with her left foot and wrapping her little legs tightly around Cockroach's neck, flinging herself backwards to slam her opponent's large body onto the hard wet concrete and then slamming a fist into the back of his head.

Bucky could hardly believe what he was witnessing. The small girl he had known almost all his life was always so sweet and innocent, he always had to protect her from men but here she was, defending herself against such an opponent and winning.

Cockroach's hand swiped out, pulling Lily to the floor with him. During the fight, Her concentration was lost and her tattoo could be seen faintly in the dark. ''You'll always be one of us, Black Dragon.''

''That is not my name.'' Lily repeated, kicking out with her free (and heeled) foot. The heel of her shoe taking out Cockroach's eye, the large brute screeched with pain as Lily pushed herself back up. ''And Red Dragon, is not getting me back.''

''Red Dragon is dead.'' Cockroach informed through his pain. ''White Dragon is her successor like you were supposed to be.''

''White Dragon will die, just like the rest of The Order.'' Lily spoke, undoing the first few buttons on her soaked dress to reveal a blade wedged between her breasts. She took ahold of the leather handle, the rigged edged blade glinted in the moonlight for all of one second.

''Just like you.'' Lily added a moment before kneeling and plunging the blade in Cockroach's throat. ''You can bleed out here, alone and unloved, since you have forced my hand in revealing myself.'' She removed the blade, wiping it on Cockroach's clothes before sheathing it and re-buttoning her dress.

''Lily''

''We should go home now.'' And she started walking, not waiting for Bucky. She was afraid, what he'd just seen wasn't the girl he'd grown up with; She was even horrified with herself.

''Lily'' She ignored him and carried on walking. ''Lily'' Bucky called again as she sped up, she didn't want to face anything he wanted to say, she feared the words she would hear, would not be nice ones. ''Lillian!'' Not even that worked.

''Black Dragon?!''

Lily whirled around immediately on the heel of her foot, catching Bucky off guard ''That is not my name!'' Bucky finally saw the look on her face, All scrunched up the way it normally was when she didn't want to cry.

''Lets go home. You can explain to me there where you got the fighting kills from''

''You're not scared of me?'' She whispered, hope shining in her eyes.

''I could never.'' He led Lily home, inviting himself in and she didn't mind. He waited until she was all cleaned in, in dry clothes, drying her black hair with a towel. Waiting in silence next to her on the couch.

That is, until Bucky broke the silence, Asking to know where her skills came from and Lily explained, all of it; from her mother all the way down to The Order and the Tattoo on her leg. Everything she learned and why she learned it, It all came out into the open to James Buchanan Barnes, who was a little overwhelmed by it all. Lily's explanation ended with her laying down and legs over Bucky's thighs as he traced the Tattoo.

''How come we never saw this?''

''Promise you won't flip your wig?''

Bucky closed his eyes and held up his hands ''Promise'' When he opened his eyes, Lily was gone. His eyes travelled around the room but there was no trace and he didn't hear her leave.

''Lil-Ah!'' A minor heart attack happened as Lily suddenly came into view, her whole body rippling until she wasn't transparent anymore. She was staring at him intently, eyes flicking all over his face, watching his expression. ''Do it again?''

He watched Lily phase-out of sight like she wasn't occupying the space in front of him and then she was back again. ''Bucky?''

''How do you do that?''

''I'm a little different to most humans. I've met a few other mutants but none with my abilities.'' Lily looked down at her lap, worried that he wouldn't want to be with her anymore. ''Please don't be scared of me.''

Bucky wrapped his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer on the couch. ''I told you. I could never.'' He whispered into her ear, soothing her paranoid mind.

Lily smiled, looking up at him to memorise his features, knowing this would be the last night they would see each other for a long while. She placed a hand on his cheek, gently stroking with her thumb. ''You be careful out there, okay?''

''I don't think I need to worry about you anymore, huh?'' Bucky smiled. ''Now that I know you're capable of protecting yourself.''

Lily's eyes flickered down to his lips, leaning up towards them as though they had their own gravitational pull. Tilting her head, she pushed her lips gently against his for the quickest of seconds, pulling away to whisper. ''I will always need you.''

''Good.'' Bucky initiated the kiss first, pushing his lips against hers with a gentle loving touch. Sitting on the couch made it hard to get close, but Bucky just lifted her legs over his thighs and problem solved.

' _Closer._ ' She thought, trying to shift herself as his arms dropped to encircle her waist. ' _I need to get closer_.'

Bucky's hands were burning their imprint on her once again as they did earlier that week, the mere act of his gentle touch had her intoxicated and left her wanting more. Lily's entire body heated to the point that she could feel herself starting to sweat, her hands dropping from his shoulders and down his uniform.

''Stop.'' Lily pulled away, breathing heavily as she remembered.

''What?'' Bucky worried about why she had stopped the kiss, something he had wanted for so long and he didn't want to stop it so soon.

Lily tapped the lapels of his slightly wet uniform. ''You need to go, remember? You're shipped out tomorrow, you need to rest.''

''You're killing me.'' Bucky laughed but did stand up, taking Lily with him and once again she saw him off from her front door. She watched him leave until she couldn't see him anymore.

She knew she should have told him that she wasn't going to be waiting at home for a letter from him. She knew she should have told him...

..That she'll see him sooner than he thinks.

* * *

 **Some changed bits in here.**


	3. Chapter 3

''Recruits! Attention!'' The voice of Peggy Carter was heard from where she stood. Lily had now become a part of the SSR officially, she had met one Margaret Carter and the two were fast friends but she still missed her two best ones.

She got a letter from Bucky straight away, it had been sent home and then Ruth had forwarded it to Camp Lehigh, Where Lily was currently stationed. ''I am Agent Carter, I supervise all operations for this division.''

Lily walked over to see the new recruits and eavesdrop. ''What's with the accent queen victoria?'' A recruit said, speaking out of line. ''I thought I was signing up for the U.S Army.'' eggy's up darted up to meet Lily's for a moment before looking at the soldier again.

''What's your name, Soldier.''

''Gilmore Hodge, your majesty.''

''Step Forward, Hodge.'' She ordered and he did as told but not without a look to a fellow soldier. ''Put your right foot forward.''

''Oo, are we gonna wrassle? Cause I got a few moves I know you'll like.''

A few heads turned at the sound of Lily laughing, Peggy's fist connecting with the side of Hodge's face and sending the man to the ground. ''Agent Carter!'' A man called from a car, Lily immediately moved to greet him and his guest.

''Colonel Phillips!'' Peggy greeted, Saluting him. Phillips acknowledged Lily's presence as well with a simple nod, she wasn't exactly had to miss as the only woman with a tattoo covering her whole leg.

''I can see that you are breaking in the Candidates, that's good!'' Phillips stopped walking just in front of her, looking down at the candidate. ''Get your ass up out of that dirt and stand in that line at attention until someone comes tells you what to do.''

The soldier answered in the usual 'yes sir!' and got up off the ground. Lily was looking over the recruits, finding the familiar face she hadn't known had even gotten through the initial enlisting. ''Steve.'' She whispered, feeling proud that he had made it to where he wanted to be.

''You know him?'' A man spoke from beside her, looking over, she found an elderly man. ''Apologies, I am Doctor Erskine.''

''Lillian, And yes. Steve is my best friend.'' Lily answered, giving a smile to Steve wo had noticed her standing there, looking surprised to see her. ''You're the Doctor on Project Rebirth.''

''That is me.''

''General Patton has said that wars are fought with weapons but they are won by men. We are going to win this war because we have the best men.'' It was quite amusing when Phillips noticed poor little Stevie amongst the tall men. But Erskine had made his choice, and Lily was close to figuring that out.

''And because they're gonna get better. Much better. The Strategic Scientific Reserve is an allied effort made up of the best minds in the free world. Our goal is to create the best army in history. But every army starts with one man. At the end of this week we will choose that man. He will be the first in a new breed of super-soldiers. And they, will personally escort Adolf Hitler to the gates of Hell.''

Then the regulatory training started and Hodge proved to be quite the nuisance. It wasn't becoming of a soldier in training to laugh at a comrade's failures during said training when Steve's leg got caught in the rope climb and ended upside down; no one helped him, Hodge found it amusing.

Crawling through the mud, under spiked wires was hard for Steve, not having the upper body strength to keep the rifle out of the mud and continued crawling. Hodge made it harder by knocking down one of the posts, half of it collapsing on top of the small blonde. Lily could hardly contain her anger while watching it, Peggy was the one who had to make sure Lily didn't murder Hodge.

Then Lily found herself sitting in a jeep with Peggy, looking over the information her friend had written on the recruits. ''Pick up the pace, Ladies!'' Their trainer yelled '' Let's go, Let's go! Double time!''

Lily couldn't help but smile at the effort Steve was really making. The man had asthma and yet he was willing to run and train for a war, Lily could see Steve had made an impression on Peggy as well and in such a short time.

''He's persistent'' Peggy smiled over at Lily.

Lily put a hand to her ear, pretending she heard something ''oh, oh, I hear wedding bells.'' Peggy chuckled, pushing her friend playfully as they focused back on the training troops.

''That flag, means we're only at the halfway point!'' Little hunched over Steve looked up, squinting at the flag at the top of the pole. ''First man to bring it to me, gets a ride back with Agents Carter and Akiyama!''

At that point, all the men began to jump at the pole, trying to climb such a smooth surface. It was almost impossible without the proper grip on their shoes ''You think any of them will figure out that they could just take off their shoes and socks?'' Lily questioned in a whisper towards Peggy. The British woman snickered lightly before silencing.

''Nobody's got that flag in seventeen years! Now fall back into line, come on! fall in!'' Lily grinned as She saw Steve walk up to the pole. ''Rogers! I said fall in!'' Steve pulled the pin from the bottom of the pole, the whole thing going over and once on the ground, Steve plucked off the Flag.

Peggy and Lily a grin as Steve folded the flag and passed it to the instructor saying ''Thank you, sir'' Steve took the hand of a giggling Lily and sat beside her, Smiling at Peggy when she turned his way.

''Are you going to keep giggling, Tinkerbell?''

Lily nodded, still giggling ''Yeah, short stack.'' side eyeing the soldiers left behind, Lily pushed a kiss to Steve's cheek, ''You did good.''

~O~

''Faster Ladies, come on'' Peggy instructed, the recruits doing push-ups and Steve was giving it his all.

''My mother moves faster than this! And she's dead!'' Lily interjected ''You think you can move faster than the lifeless corpse of my dead mother!'' Peggy waited for the usual 'god rest their soul'. People usually said it when talking about the dead, but it never came.

''Up!'' Peggy ordered, the recruits doing as told ''Jumping jacks.''

''Come on, girls!'' Lily groaned ''You're all miserable excuses for soldiers! Pick up the pace!'' That had got them going, they had all seen Lily running in the early hours of the morning, running for hours. She was hard to impress with stamina like hers.

But then - ''Grenade!''

All of the recruits bolted from the area and went behind cover, All except for Steve, who ran toward the Grenade and covered himself over it; just as Peggy and Lily were about to do something. Lily smiled, knowing now that it was just a test for Project Rebirth; there was no way Steve would be here if not for that specific reason.

''Get away! Get back!'' After a few seconds, when the grenade did not explode like the ticking time bomb it should have been, Steve opened his eyes and looked around in confusion. ''is this a test''

Lily barked a laugh as the other recruits stood up, releasing the dummy grenade ''A test.'' She held out a hand towards Steve, who took it with a smile ''You passed with flying colours.''

''What was the test for?''

Lily smiled secretively, nudging her friend's shoulder ''Go, rest up'' Steve looked at her weirdly but none the less, did as she said while she turned back to the other recruits. ''Dismissed! Get the hell out of my Sight, you maggots!''

Everyone at Camp Lehigh was surprised by Lily, the way she had come waltzing into the camp, introduced as an agent and the weird Tattoo on her leg. They'd never seen a woman so harsh and pushy, they wondered why, Even Peggy and Colonel Phillips wondered why. But none dared to ask.

Their wonders stayed silent.


	4. Chapter 4

'' _Agent Akiyama, I'd like you to meet Howard Stark_ ''

That Sentence had been said ten minutes ago. Lily had been brought to Brooklyn Antiques, Where Dr Abraham Erskine had answer a question which led her through a bookcase and to this, Staring and blinking at Howard Stark. A man Lily had Admired for his genius, not so much for his womanising ways; but it was still hard to ignore his voice and smooth tone of it.

''Hello'' He greeted with his usual handsome smile, holding his hand out to shake hers. Lily found herself remembering Bucky at the sight, she had thought of the man 24/7 since their goodbye and she missed his smile, his laugh and the way he always stood a little bit too close to ward off other men.

''A pleasure. I'm Lillian, My friends call me Lily'' Lily slid her hands into Howard's to receive the handshake, when instead the back of her hand was brought to his lips. ' _Smooth_ ' she whispered to herself.

She watched Howard drop her hand gently, wink and then return to his work. She rolled her eyes when he wasn't looking, as handsome as he was, She only had room in her heart for Bucky...at least, in a romantic way.

She had all of his letters and it hurt her to send lies back to him, in the end just breaking the truth through a letter and expressing her apologies that she kept it from him. In his reply letter, Bucky seemed to understand why she had hidden it - something else she loved about him.

He was so understanding.

Ten minutes later and the entire work staff fell silent as Steve appeared with Peggy, They all looked up at him for all one minute before returning to their work. Lily at Howard's side, staring at the equipment being used.

''Mr Stark! how are your levels.'' Erskine called as Howard and Lily approached.

''Levels at 100%'' Howard replied.

''Good''

''Might dim half the lights in Brooklyn though.'' Lily smiled down at Steve, who was already lying in the machine, his shirt off and hanging over he metal railing nearby ''Hey, Stevie.''

''But, we are ready, as we'll ever be'' Howard added, holding up a finger before walking off and dragging Lily with him; she did say she wanted to learn.

Dr Erskine then picked up a mic and turned to the audience up in the viewing booth. ''Ladies and gentlemen, today we take not another step towards annihilation, but the first step on the path to peace. We begin with a series of microinjections into the subjects major muscle groups. The serum infusion will cause immediate cellular change. And then to stimulate growth, the subject will be saturated with vita rays.''

Doctor Erskine injected Steve with the syringe in his hands.

''That wasn't so bad.''

''That was penicillin.'' Steve seemed a loss for words as Dr Erskine continued to talk to those around him. '' Serum infusion beginning in five, four, three, two, one''

Lily flipped the lever upwards, the one Howard had told her to flip, which kickstarted the procedure. ''Now, Mr Stark'' Erskine stated. Howard looked down at the console, pulling his own red knobbed lever downwards. The machine Steve was lying on now moved into an upright position and closed, like a metal cocoon.

Dr Erskine checked on Steve in the closed machine and turned back to Howard ''We will proceed.''

Howard Turned a dial and moved onto a small wheel, placing on some protective glasses before grasping the sides and turning it. ''That's Ten Percent. Twenty. Thirty. Forty Percent''

''Vital signs are stable'' Lily informed

''That's fifty percent. Sixty. Seventy '' That was when Steve began to scream. It startled Lily a bit too much that she physically jolted in her spot.

''Steven!'' Dr Erskine called worriedly.

''Shut it down!'' Peggy shouted from the railing, having ran from the small booth.

''Steven!'' Erskine pounded on the machine a few times.

''Shut it down!'' Peggy shouted once more.

Erskine turned to Howard ''Kill the reactor, Mr Stark. Turn it off! Kill it, Kill the Reactor!''

''No!'' Steve's yell stopped all movement. ''Don't! I can do this!'' Erskine turned to look at Lily, Who was smiling something awful. Catching the good doctors eye, she nodded and Howard returned to the wheel.

''Eighty. Ninety. That's one hundred percent!'' The light shining from the machine got brighter, all the other machines in the room sparked several times before the machine powered down, the light fading.

Anticipation: Everyone felt it. Waiting for the Machine to open and reveal if Project Rebirth had worked. ''Mr. Stark!'' Howard pushed a button and the machine finally opened...

And Lily laughed in amazement. Thunderstruck by the sight of her once small best friend, now tall, muscled and, well, hot. Not that he wasn't handsome before, The muscles just added more attraction. Lily wondered what Bucky would say when he saw his best friend.

Lily stayed where she was as everyone went to marvel at Steve, She was amazed. Steve heads whipped around to find Lily in all the commotion, eyes finally landing on her, seeing her smiling like she had done the night of the modern marvels pavilion. Steve was glad one of his best friends were there to witness the success, and it was hard to mistake the hope shining in his eyes.

Steve would finally get to fight for his country, It was an all-around happy moment.

And then that moment ended. The booth blew up and as everyone ducked to cover their heads, the enemy stole the serum vial. ''Stop him!'' Dr Erskine had shouted, moving to go after the enemy but stopped short when Pain flared through him; the sound of a gun being fired twice.

Lily's eyes widened and she wasted no time running after the enemy along with Peggy behind her, Time to mourn would be later; right now, they had someone to stop. Of course, She didn't expect him to shoot at really anything.

The thief wasn't aiming, just blindly firing and sometimes it hit dead on, Like now: when Lily was shot in the stomach. She yelped out and stumbled, her hands flying to her stomach ''Lily!'' Peggy worried.

''I'm fine, Go!'' She told Peggy, who hesitated for a few seconds ''Go! If he gets away with the serum, we're done!'' Peggy then ran. Lily then focused on healing just as Steve came running towards her.

''Don't stop just go!'' And Steve didn't stop. He knew better than to argue with Lily. And Just as well, Lily had never been shot before, and it seemed to cause her ability to spazz out. She was phasing in and out of sight when she caught sight of Howard staring at her.

Lily raised a finger to her lips in a silent command to be silent, focusing on removing the bullet from her stomach. It dropped to the floor with a small clang and the bullet hole stitched itself together. Breathing deeply, she then turned to Howard and pointed and perfectly sharp nail at him.

''You keep your mouth shut about what you saw, or I'm going to break your neck.'' Howard nodded, eyes wide at the deadly sounding threat. Lily walked passed him silently.

~O~

At the SSR compound, Peggy had Taken Steve for a blood test as Lily jumped down beside Howard to look over the submarine that the German spy tried to make a getaway in.

''You're not gonna kill me right?'' Howard said, though his face held the same smooth smirk he always had.

''Not if you keep your mouth shut. What's in there.''

''No idea.'' Howard replied, smirk falling from his face to talk seriously about the enemy technology. Lily hummed in suspicion, taking a peek inside the submarine panel that Howard had open.

''It's new'' Lily stated in a mumble, Howard humming in question beside her ''It's Technology way beyond our years. I've never seen something like it, and I've seen a lot in my life.'' She then smiled ''It's magnificent.''

If he was being completely honest with himself, Howard was definitely scared of the black haired beauty. Lily was different, she didn't wear her hair in the style most women used; she just tied hers back with a ribbon and left it if it fell out. The tattoo on her leg was a mystery he wanted answers to but didn't want to ask and her threats... Howard had to hold back the urge to shiver.

''Colonel Phillips, my committee is demanding answers.'' She heard a voice speak, Squinting her eyes when she could see something further into the panel.

''Great. Why don't we start with how a German spy got a ride to my secret installation in your car?'' Colonel Phillips walked around and stopping in front of the nose of the submarine, looking down at Howard, eyes glancing to Lily. ''What have we got here?''

''Speaking modestly, I'm the best mechanical engineer in this country. But I don't know what's inside this thing or how it works. We're not even close to this technology.''

''Then who is?'' Senator Brandt asked.

''Hydra. I'm sure you've been reading our briefings.''

''I'm on a number of committees, Colonel.'' Lily didnt much care for the idle chatter about the enemy, brushing under Howard's arm to get to the seat of the submarine.

''Hydra is the Nazi deep science division. It's led by Johann Schmidt. But he has much bigger ambitions.'' Peggy's explained to the senator as she and Steve entered the room. Lily gave a small twiddle of her fingers in greeting before returning to look at the controls on the submarine.

''Hydra's practically a cult. They worship Schmidt, they think he's invincible.''

''So what are you gonna do about it?''

The colonel looked at Brandt for a moment before turning to look at Peggy. ''Spoke to the president this morning. As of today, the SSR is being retasked.''

''Colonel?'' She asked, confused on the retask.

''We are taking the fight to Hydra. Pack your bags, Agent Carter. You too, Stark, Akiyama. We're flying to London tonight.''

Lily narrowed her eyes, all background noise falling away as she noticed the visage of a dragon, cared into the metal. She stood from the seat of the submarine and jumped over the side, checking the other open panel that Howard had opened.

''Shit.''

''Woah, Sugar! Whats with the language?'' Howard had never heard any lady curse in public, he hadn't heard any lady curse at all.

''They're working together,'' she said mainly to herself, having ignored Howard's question, rounding the submarine to look in his panel and seeing the dragon carving again. ''My mother never would have stooped so low.'' Lily to turned to Howard, ''If you see this symbol again, tell me immediately.''

Howard was unable to reply in time before Lily turned and left him alone with the Submarine. Howard chuckled, amused by her.

She was one unique woman.

* * *

 **Changed some bits here, added some others.**


	5. Chapter 5

She was worried, She hadn't had a letter from Bucky in a while, and though they were now being sent to the location she was currently in, she should have had at least two letters come through by now.

Then she had found out, Only five miles from the front lines, She found out that most of the 107th infantry, the infantry that Bucky was in, had been captured by the enemy. Colonel Phillips had given her a condolence letter, which meant Bucky had put her down as someone to send one too in the event of his death, and the colonel refused to let her save them, even after revealing her abilities to him.

She had arrived in Italy too late to see him, by the time she had arrived, he was gone and then most of the soldiers of the 107th on the front lines slowly started to turn up, in ambulances, injured and traumatised.

What she wouldn't give to go and save him.

Lily tried to work, she tried to get her mind off the guilt that she wasn't going to save Bucky right this minute. Not even the sight of Steve was enough to cheer her up, she stood right at the back of what was left of the 107th infantry, feeling alone knowing Bucky wasn't anywhere with his infantry.

Steve couldn't get near her, any time he tried, she walked away and vanished. Though she had really moved from his sight, just phased out of it and continued to stand in the rain as she watched him draw from under shelter.

Peggy approached him none too soon after, she couldn't hear what they were saying, standing too far out into the rain to be able to eavesdrop. Phasing back into sight when Steve put on his coat and went into a tent.

She was jittery, it had been a while since she had gotten the letter from Phillip's, since he told her she wasn't to go behind enemy lines unless she wanted to be punished for disobeying orders.

Lily's foot tapped the muddy, wet ground, unable to keep still as she weighed her options. She loved Bucky, she wasn't going to let him die, but was she willing to go against orders. She had disobeyed her own mother, what Made Phillips any different other than what was between his legs.

Just because he was a man and a Colonel, she was suddenly going to listen? Because that's what this world expected her - as a woman- to do.

Lily looked up into the sky, rain drops falling on her cheeks and into her eyes but she still looked up. ''I'm coming, Buck. I promise.''

Lily turned on her heel, mud squelching under her feet while she walked to her tent. ''Lily!'' Steve barged through the tent flaps, seeing Lily there and starting to gear up. ''Where are you going?'' He asked, knowing she was definitely going somewhere.

''Austria''

Steve sighed, thankful she was going to the same place. ''Let's go then.''Steve helped out his hand and Lily had no hesitancy in taking it. He pulled her from her tent and in the direction of Peggy, who was waiting nearby.

She took them to Howard, who then took them onto a plane. Lily was sitting in the cockpit with the genius, staring out of the window into the night sky. it was oddly peaceful. Howard was absolutely insane but brave enough to fly them right into enemy airspace, she only hoped he could get himself and Peggy out of it.

''The HYDRA camo is in Kreuzberg, tucked between these two mountain ranges. It's a factory of some kind.'' Peggy pointed down at a map, Lily getting up for a few seconds to memorise it before sitting back next to Howard. A man she had actually gotten quite close with.

''We should be able to drop you right on the doorstep,'' Howard added., turning back to give Steve a quick look before glancing to Lily.

''Just get us as close as you can!'' Steve answered, he hardly cared if it was right on the doorstep or not, he just wanted to know if Bucky was still alive. As did Lily.

Lily reached over and gave Howard's shoulder a squeeze. ''Thank you. You're a good man for doing this.'' Howard nodded, feeling little uneasy. Especially since he now knew what Lily was capable of doing, He liked her though, she was a good friend.

''Agent Carter!'' Howard called back to Peggy. ''If we're not in too much of a hurry, I thought we could stop off in Lucerne for a late night fondue.'' Lily almost groaned, she could go for a fondue, or even -dare she think it- a chocolate fondue.

''Stop Howard, you're making me hungry'' Howard only grinned in response to Lily, giving a cheeky wink.

''You sure this thing works!?'' Steve called about the transponder.

''It's been tested more than you, pal!'' Howard responded just as the plane was attacked, the ride got bumpy and both Lily and Steve took that as their cue to leave.

''Get back here! We're taking you all the way in.'' Peggy demanded as Lily jogged passed her.

''As soon as we're free, turn this thing around and get the hell outta here!'' Steve demanded in response.

''You can't give me orders!''

''The hell I can't! I'm a captain!'' Steve then jumped from the plane. Lily looked at Peggy, gave a salute and let herself fall from the plane.

''Was she wearing a parachute?!'' Howard asked.

''No. No, she wasn't!''

Steve was baffled and in a blind panic, watching as Lily was in freefall mode thousands of meters above solid ground. Why the hell she jumped from the plane without a parachute was lost on him, but he hardly expected her to be waiting on the ground for him.

Unhurt and sitting patiently.

''Wha-''

''I know, you're wondering and surprised and stuff. But honestly, I'll explain later. okay?'' Steve nodded, unable to find the words to argue. Following after Lily as she started the trek through the forest. Stopping when they found the camp, under heavy guard.

''How do we get in?'' Steve mumbled more to himself than to Lily.

''Through the front door. '' Lily grinned, phasing out of sight and then back before holding her hand out for Steve to take. Shell-shocked but not questioning it, Steve took his friend's hand and the both of them were out of sight to everything but each other.

Their entrance was evident a second later when vehicles arrived, the front gate opening for them. Lily and Steve, quite literally, waltzed in through the front door; it was a new thing for Steve. To walk past a HYDRA guard like a stranger on a street, no one knew they were there and everyone was still conscious.

Then they came to a door, one that was being guarded. Lily grinned over at Steve, pushing him out of sight and letting go of his hand; the both of them now visible to any and all eyes around. ''Watch and be amazed, Steve.''

Steve did watch, he watched as Lily ripped the long skirt shorter; about mid-thigh. It wasn't something seen or done much in the 40's, all the dresses fell to the knee and that is how women were to wear them. Steve had to avert his eyes as his best friend showed off her legs, ripping the skirt up one side and then turning attention to the door. Steve knocked on it, prompting the guard to come over and open it, Lily stood there in full view.

''Hey sugar. '' She called over to the guard, though visibly alarmed at the sight of a woman; the guard most certainly started to approach Lily while she backed away in a teasing manner, leaving the door wide open as he walked through it, unknowing that Steve was behind it. That was when Steve moved, knocking the guard in the back of the head with the shield; how handy.

''Did you have to rip the skirt?''

Lily gave a look of mock innocence ''Why Steve, are my legs distracting you?''

''...No'' Lily chuckled, watching Steve walk away from her. ''Who are you and what have you done with my best friend. '' he was confused, he had never known Lily to be anything other than the shy innocent type around men, yet she had been surprising him since the moment he was enlisted.

Steve picked up a glowing blue item from a nearby table, one of the small ones so he could slip it into a pocket and Lily noticed a rather strange door with a familiar symbol. Further into the camp, Steve and Lily came upon holding cells, where the 107th was being held.

''you want this one?'' She raised an eyebrow at Steve, who merely raised one back and shook his head. ''Suit yourself'' Lily said before running over to the guard who had his back towards her. She raised her hands and dropped on them, using the motion to flip over, her ankles wrapping around the neck of the guard as she pulled herself up to sit on his shoulders.

Steve was surprised at the lack of sound she made and the 107th below was looking upwards in confusion at the girl. The guard made muffled panicked sounds as Lily choked him, then with one swift motion - she jerked his head to the left; An audible crack could be heard echoing.

Steve jogged up as Lily landed on her feet, the dead guard lying between her feet. ''Who're you two supposed to be?''

''I'm Captain America'' Steve said as Lily retrieved the keys from the dead guard.

''And you, doll?'' The man in the bowler hat grinned in question.

Lily stared down at him, slowly crouching ''Black Dragon.''

''I beg your pardon?'' the guy in the red beret said.

''You're pardoned'' She chuckled, following Steve to the lower level to unlock the cages. Letting out the captured 107th from their cells.

''What, are we taking everybody?'' Bowler hat guy said as he saw a man that looked a lot like he wasn't from America, an Asian-American just like Lily.

Said guy lifted his dog tags with one finger replying with ''I'm from Fresno, ace''

''Enough with the god damn chit chat'' Lily hissed, suddenly angry with how slow things were progressing and so she grabbed both the collars of bowler hat and Fresno, pulling them in close ''We're looking for someone. Sergeant James Barnes, know where he is?''

''There's an isolation ward in the factory, but no one's ever come back from it.'' Lily looked over at the beret guy, giving him a thankful nod as she let go of the other two.

''You want to get him? I think I saw something earlier, on a door- I'd like to check it out quickly.''

''Be safe, Tink.'' Steve nodded to Lily before addressing the 107th '' The tree line is northwest, 80 yards past the gate. Get out fast and give 'em hell. I'll meet you guys in the clearing with anybody else I find.''

'' Wait!'' they were called before they ran off in their different directions. ''You two know what you're doin'?''

''Yeah. I've knocked out Adolf Hitler over two hundred times.'' Steve replied as Lily simply phased out of sight. She watched Steve run towards the isolation factory before backtracking to the door she'd seen earlier.

The door bore a very familiar symbol that could be seen in the sky at night. It's known as the Constellation - Draco ...the dragon. In Roman legend, Draco was a dragon killed by the goddess Minerva and tossed into the sky upon his defeat. It's now used as a symbol for The Order.

The Brotherhood of Draco, Or, The Brotherhood of the Dragon. Most even call it The order of Draco. Lily, Calls it nothing more than a lie and so pushes the door open in slight fear of what she might find. Pleasantly surprised when she found nothing more than a map and a few coded and multi-language papers; She folded them and slipped them into her shirt before leaving unseen to meet with Steve and hopefully, Bucky.

She hadn't expected half the camp to blow up. Feeling that the papers were not safe in clothing that could be burned, she slipped them out and into her leather boots instead, a pair of boots she had made from a helper of The Order who was no longer being commisioned. It was then that the second bomb sounded, the blast wave knocked into Lily's back and sent her chest first into steel piping.

Feeling a few of her bones crack in her chest but she couldn't stop to let them heal. Lily was slowed but still on a race to get out before everything went up in flames, her clothes were as expected, burnt and most of the skin on her arms was burning and scarring from the intense heat she had to endure through.

Lily had no time to dodge the burst of flames that erupted from below her. The mere power of the sudden burst burned everything but her flameproof boots and the papers they held, she mentally thanked The order for being so ahead with their inventions.

Lily's bones were not so lucky either, The blast waves forced her into the sky and through the weakened ceiling. Lily could barely control her mutant power of flight in such pain but managed to get herself safely to the ground without yet more injuries.

She was now safe from any blast radius and could start assessing just what injuries she had. Broken bones, at least ten, maybe more but she couldn't tell exactly which ones were broken until they healed. The skin of her arms, legs and most of her face, her clothes were all but gone too. Only wearing the scorched dark greeny brown skirt and the light grey shirt, which had both sleeves burned off and was again scorched around the hems.

She was covered in ash.

''Lily!'' She heard Steve call for a distance away.

''Steve..'' She tried to call back but it came out as a mere croak. She assumed one of her lungs had been punctured when she struggled to breathe a moment later.

''Oh my god, Lily!'' Judging but the sheer amount of shock in the new but very much welcomed voice, They could see her and the state she was in. Lily turned slowly, making sure to hide the lady parts of herself as she lifted a hand to tell them to stop.

From her place and even in the dark she could see Steve and bucky's horrified expressions. The expressions which turned to shock when her skin started to clear up of wounds, the pain on her face was evident though, as her physical appearance healed.

Croaky breathing slowed into paced inhales, but when it came to healing her bones. Things did not go as planned. A short scream burst from her lips as bones snapped into place all at once and her legs almost buckled but she didn't care, breaking into a run towards Bucky.

Bucky's arms moved in time for her to slam chest to chest with him, her ash and burn covered arms around his neck as they healed. Hugging him for a few seconds before pulling back, hands moving to either cheek, she didn't know what to say.

''Hi.''he greeted her first, smiling widely, his own arms tight around her waist. She was light, he wasn't really holding her, she was just using her flight to lift the burden of her weight off him as he looked rather weak at the moment.

''Sergeant, You scared me. Don't do it again.''

''Oh! Yes Ma'am.'' Lily chuckled, gently nudging his cheek with her thumb, leaning forward for a long over due kiss. The 107th soldiers whooped and cheered, gasped when Lily helped up a certain finger whilst continuing to kiss Bucky without shame.

Lily's breathing was still a bit ragged even before the kiss had started and still so after it ended, Bucky let go of her and she dropped herself to her feet to walk between him and Steve, Smiling despite the pain and exhaustion she was feeling.

''That really spangled my stars'' She whispered in Steve's direction, The blonde was torn between laughing and being mild frustrated that even she had heard of the song.

''Ah, she's fine'' Steve groaned, but his words of assurance didn't stop Bucky from helping Lily to walk until her breathing returned to normal. A woman he loved could have been killed in that fire had she not been a mutant with healing abilities, the only thing stopping him from kissing her again, was the fact that she was still having trouble catching her breath.

The strange thing was, Lily's leg had been burned and then healed...but the tattoo was still present.

''Lily..''

The small black haired girl looked up at Bucky, ''yeah, Buck?'' She awaited his answer, her breathing now just about normal as she stood up on her own two feet.

''...I love you.''

* * *

 **Some bits changed. others added. yet again. XD**


	6. Chapter 6

_...I love you.''_

Lily's feet froze to the ground, eyes wide as the words played over in her mind. She'd never heard those words being said to her before, Her father left when she was young and her mother certainly never spoke those words. Lily's heart felt like it was going to explode, she never thought it would feel so...nice to hear someone say it to her.

''What?'' she breathed out, looking up into the blue eyes she loved so much. Bucky wasn't panicking, both him and Steve knew how she wasn't loved by her mother, but the rest of the 107th was highly confused. Considering they had stopped walking too, to watch the situation playing out.

''It's funny'' Bucky started, smiling down at Lily ''I had so much time to think, but all I could think about is how you didn't know.''

''Come on, Lovebirds'' Steve grinned, pushing them lightly to get them walking. They didn't speak again but by the subtle slip of her hand into his, let him know that she felt the same way; especially the bashful smile present on her face.

Both Bucky and Steve knew how Lily wasn't so good with expressing the love stuff in words, She could show it pretty well but when it came to speaking...She'd turn as red as a strawberry and stutter over her words. she hardly ever blushed but when she did, it was adorable to see.

Arriving at camp wasn't all that exciting, though of course, the other soldiers were surprised and pleased to see the 107th unit okay. Phillips was harder to read as he walked up with Peggy following.

Steve saluted Phillips and Lily's face remained passive ''Some of these men need medical attention. I'd like to surrender myself for disciplinary action.''

Lily resisted the urge to laugh, she knew Phillips wasn't going to do any sort of action. She and Steve had brought home the rest of the 107th...well, more Steve than her.

''That won't be necessary.'' Phillips answered, a hint of a smile on his face.

''Sir'' Lily called, trying to hide a smile of her own ''I'd like to say, for the record, this mission...really spangled my stars.'' Phillips stared at Lily before turning away, but even so, she could still see the slight shaking of his shoulders.

''You're late'' Peggy told Steve, obvious attraction in the air.

Steve pulled out a broken radio from his pocket. ''Couldn't call my ride.''

''Hey!'' Bucky suddenly, startling Lily halfway out of her skin. ''Lets hear it for Captain America!'' Cheers and applause broke out, Lily slowly clapped as she backed away from the large group without being seen.

At least, she hoped she wouldn't be seen, but Bucky would be the only one to see her sneak into her tent. As soon as he got the chance, he clapped his best friend on the shoulder and approached Lily's tent.

''Hey, Tink?'' He called, moving one the tent flaps out of the way to see her sitting on the floor with a pencil in her mouth- staring down at a few papers.

''Hmm...'' Was her hummed answer.

Bucky sat down beside her, looking over the papers she was staring at. ''What are you doing?''

''Puzzle solving.'' She replied, putting pencil to paper to translate a word.

''What language is that?'' The words on the paper were clearly words in a different language, but know Bucky had ever seen.

''Latin. It's the language used through The Order.'' Lily explained ''Since it's a dead language, no one really knows it. So it's great for sending messages you don't want anyone else to see.''

''And the morse code?''

''For fake messages, diversions and, or Assassination requests.''

''And this says...?'' Bucky asked, fearing the worst.

''Uhh...'' Lily picked up the paper, eyes roaming over the dots and lines. ''Orders ...from...White ...Dragon. Bring ...him...the ...head...of...the...rogue...dragon.''

''So it's an order to kill..''

''Me...an order to kill me.'' Lily interrupted, dropping the morse code paper and returning back to the Latin language. ''I ran away from my mother, so she deemed me a rogue from The Order. This bounty has been on me for a while but many of the Brotherhood might want me back instead of dead.''

''Any Particular reason?''

Lily dropped her pencil, Giving Bucky her full attention. ''I'm a blood relation to Red Dragon. Technically, The Order is mine to control and raise as I see fit and many others see this also. The ones who follow White Dragon believe me to be an ill fit and therefore want me dead.''

''See here, on this sheet-'' She pointed down at another loose sheet of paper, At a drawing that looks much like Connect the dots. ''This one here is The constellation of Draco - the dragon. It's used as a way to recognise The Order as all of its members must study the stars.''

Bucky merely raised an eyebrow and Lily rolled her eyes, explaining further. ''Draco has more than one legend behind it, In greek mythology, Draco represents the dragon Ladon. A mythical creature with a hundred heads that guarded the gardens of the Hesperides, Heracles, hercules father, Killed the dragon with his poison arrows as part of his twelve labors.''

''In Roman legend, Draco is associated with one of the Giant Titans who warred with Zeus and other Olympian gods for a decade. The Titan was killed by Minerva in battle and thrown into the sky. As Minerva threw the dragon, it became twisted on itself and froze at the cold North Celestial Pole before it could right itself. In some mythology, Draco had one hundred magnificent heads, guarded the golden apple tree, and was put in the sky as a constellation for protecting the apples with valor. ''

''That's a lot of heads. What about the other ones?'' Bucky wasn't really interested in the mythology, well, he was but he liked to hear her voice more than mythology behind constellations.

''This one is Hydra- The sea serpent. Not to be confused with Hydrus, the male and much smaller constellation.'' Lily didn't notice the small smile on Bucky's face, he was simply relishing in the fact that the woman he loved was smart as hell.

''One Myth associates Hydra with a monster that had many heads, Killed by Hercules. According to the legend, If one head was severed, two more would grow back in its place. But Hercules burned the roots of the heads he'd cut to prevent two more from growing back, thus claiming his victory over the beast.''

''Fascinating''

Lily chuckled under her breath ''You don't care.''

''No, no, I care. I just like listening to your voice more.''

She blushed ''Shall I carry on then?'' Bucky nodded wordlessly and laid down, dropping his head into her lap. He'd spent quite a while being a prisoner and now, he just wanted to hear her voice until he fell asleep. Neither of them noticed Steve hovering in the entrance of the tent.

''Okay, this word here is latin and translates to Nidhogg, which is a dragon that gnaws on the roots of the world tree, Yggdrasil. It's norse mythology but could be real, no one really knows. But then here, there's an obvious alliance between The order and Hydra, Looks like they want me and will give their services in return.''

''He's asleep, Lily.'' Steve spoke, Her head snapping up to the blonde before looking down at the man asleep on her lap.

''That was quick.''

''No, you just talk a lot'' Steve chuckled.

''That was very rude, Steve. You've become very rude.'' Lily grinned, the papers now forgotten as her left hand tangled into Bucky's hair and the other resting on his chest.

''And you're suddenly an expert in martial arts. Peggy told me.'' Peggy didn't know much about Lily's abilities but she knew that Lily was an expert in martial arts, Lily could hardly keep it from her.

''I'm sorry I never told you about it sooner.''

''Does Bucky know?''

Lily nodded ''I didn't tell him though. I was...forced to fight in front of him to protect us both and in the end, I had to tell him. But I still wasn't ready to tell you just yet, but again, I had to use them to save Bucky once again.''

''Will you explain now?''

''Sure, get comfy, it's a long story.''

And Lily once again took to explaining her whole life story, like she had done with Bucky on the night o the modern marvels pavilion. The story ended with that night and Steve was shocked into silence with how her mother had treated her and the brutality Lily had used on the Cockroach.

''I never once lied to you or Bucky.'' She whispered, Looking down at the sleeping man still in her lap. ''I just kept it hidden out of fear.''

''Fear we wouldn't accept you? You didn't have the choice to grow up the way you did and I understand you wanted a normal life.''

''And I found it and I wanted to hold on to it. I despise the code name given to me but if I use here and change it to be a good thing, then it's worth everything I went through.''

''Black Dragon and Captain America.''

''Saving people, Punching hitler. Just war things.'' She chuckled, lighting the mood slightly. It wasn't long before Steve and Lily fell asleep, the three of them in the same tent. It was like they were back in Brooklyn, crashing in the same room together. Staying up all hours of the night talking until sleep took hold.

Everything was fine...but it wouldn't stay that way for long. Things were about to get much worse.

* * *

just **some small tiny filler. Virtually the same chapter.**


	7. Chapter 7

_''She's still asleep'' Bucky smiled, staring down at Lily._

 _''Should we wake her?'' Steve asked._

 _''I could just carry her?''_

 _''Bucky..'' The sleeping girl breathed out._

 _''Aww, she's dreaming about me.'' He gushed, a loving look on his face. That changed when her back ached from the ground and a breathy moan left her lips, Steve looked disgusted while Bucky was just pleasantly surprised._

 _''Sounds like a good dream'' He watched with raised eyebrows as Lily's head rolled to the side, exposing her neck._

 _''I'm leaving, I don't need to hear one of my best friend's moan like that.''_

 _''I'm not leaving'' Bucky grinned at Steve. ''Steve, buddy. I don't think you understand the gravity of the situation.'' Steve shook his head, leaving the tent just as Lily let out another breath. Bucky took a seat and simply waited for her to wake up on her own, She was in for a world of teasing when she woke up and most it would come from her._

* * *

''Are you ready?'' Peggy asked Lily who was still fiddling with the hem of her shirt.

''Born ready. Lets stop this show.'' Lily grinned. The two of them were on their way to a Bar where Bucky and Steve were. It was late and Peggy wanted to flaunt some stuff as she passed off a message to Steve, it was a great excuse. Peggy's Red dress stopped mostly everyone in the street, Lily was almost invisible standing next to her in a green one.

And as they walked into the bar, the music died down. Steve's group of elite men for his team also halted in their drinks and watched as the two women walked passed, They walked around a corner, and there stood Bucky and Steve; confused on why the music had stopped until they saw the girls.

''Captian.'' Peggy greeted Steve as she walked up.

''Agent carter.''

''Ma'am'' Bucky greeted as well, but his eyes were firmly set on Lily ''Tinkerbell, I think you've grown a few inches.'' He teased, slipping an arm over Lily's shoulders.

Peggy smiled at the exchange before addressing Steve ''Howard has some new equipment for you to try. Tomorrow morning?''

''Sounds good'' Steve replied. Peggy then turned her head and Lily noticed Steve's eyes glance down at the red dress Peggy was wearing. The small black haired girl winked when Steve met her eyes.

''I see your top squad is prepping for duty.'' She spoke, turning her head back to look at him.

''You don't like music?'' Bucky asked, pulling Lily closer and smiling down at her.

''I do, Actually'' Peggy replied, eyes still on Steve's handsome face. ''I might even, when this is all over, go dancing.''

''Then what're you waiting for?''

''The right partner'' Lily squeaked a little, her hand flying up to slap over her mouth as bucky chuckled. ''0800, Captain.'' Peggy then started walking away.

''Yes ma'am, i'll be there''

''You've got to get that, Steve'' Lily spoke as soon as Peggy was out of earshot. This is what she promised Peggy, Talk her up, be a wingwoman. ''She's just- smokin!''

''Something you need to tell me, Darling?'' Bucky laughed as the three of them turned to the bar, his arm around her waist as she stood close by him.

Lily laughed too until she became serious ''No but seriously, Steve. Marry that woman, have babies, name them after me.''

''That's thinking a little too far ahead, Lily.'' Steve blushed ''The war isn't even over and you're thinking about marriage.''

''No...no, no. I'm thinking about something entirely different.'' She winked. ''A woman's got needs, boys. Someone's got to fullfil them.''

''Do you see what i live with?'' Bucky asked Steve, gesturing to Lily.

The Captain laughed ''Bucky, we both live with her.''

''Yeah, but i've got to marry her.''

''Why are you all thinking about marriage?'' Lily questioned. ''Is this some kind of guy thing? I truly don't understand, Why is it that Howard is the only one that shares my thoughts?''

''Howard? as in Howard Stark.'' Bucky's face dropped all trace of amusement. ''You've met him? talked with him? Do I need to be worried?''

Lily furrowed her eyebrows, leaning down and pressing her red painted lips to his cheek before hovering them by his ear and whispering assurance. ''You never have to be worried. You've always had me, Mind and soul. But the question is-'' She paused, grinning to herself.

'' _-will you take my body_?'' A sharp intake of breath was heard from Bucky as Lily pulled away from his arms and walked away.

''I'm going to chase after her'' Bucky breathed to Steve.

Steve nodded, knowing exactly why Bucky was in a hurry ''Good luck trying to catch her. You know how fast she is.'' Bucky ran off after Lily, The girl already out of the bar and running towards their living quarters. It was England, they had no real home there so they were assigned them, just small apartments but that was were Lily was heading.

It was funny, Bucky had been chasing after Lily for a long time and he'd never noticed just how she ran. Sure, he knew she was fast but he'd now only just notice how she was so fast. Lily chose her clothes well, loose-fitting skirts to give her more movement and her feet hardly ever touched the ground for more than 3 seconds. As soon as one foot went down, the other was a moment later.

It was like watching a blur, dodging people as she ran. Whatever training her mother had forced her through, certainly gave her a lift through life. Bucky couldn't even hear her feet hit the ground, not even in the apartment building; though he could clearly see she was wearing heels.

Lily was special, and it wasn't just the fact that she was an expert in Martial arts or that she had certain abilities. She was just different to the other women he'd met, she was an independent woman who could look after herself when surrounded by enemies.

She didn't need a man to save her.

''You're so slow, Bucky!'' He heard her voice tease as he made his way up the stairs. Turning a corner to see her leant up against her apartment door, grinning like the Cheshire cat. ''Congratulations, I'm a hundred years old.''

Bucky silently walked towards her, a smile sporting his lips. It wasn't going to leave anytime soon as his chest pressed against hers, he leaned down, about to brush to his lips against hers and ...

The door swung open and she waltzed in. Bucky rolled his head back, an amused chuckle leaving him; Lily certainly knew how to tease him. Entering the small apartment and closing the door behind him, he kept on a mock look of annoyance which only made Lily laugh from her spot on the bed.

''You're the devil, aren't you?'' Bucky joked, Standing in the middle of the small apartment.

Lily chuckled, kicking off the heels and standing up from the bed. ''Sometimes.''

''All the time'' Bucky corrected with a grin. ''You fight like one too. You're going to have to teach me.''

''You want me ...to teach you Martial arts?'' Lily raised an eyebrow ''Do know how hard I'll run you? It's the only way I know how to teach it, the way my mother taught me.''

Bucky shrugged off his jacket, chuckling ''I think I can handle it, Darling.''

''Oh, okay'' Bucky didn't expect it. Lily's hand shot out at lightning speed, grabbing a hold of his collar and then next thing he knew, he was lying on the bed with Lily hovering over him. ''I'll say again, You're so slow''

''And you're...so flexible.'' Bucky countered, eyes glancing down at Lily's position. ''And you've let your guard down.'' Lily looked at him in confusion until realising she'd left one of his hands-free, which he used to swipe a foot out from under her and switch their positions.

Now he was just smirking down at her, at least, he was until he noticed her eyes. He had always thought that Lily had blue eyes since he'd never been close enough to have such a good look at their colour. Right now, hovering over her and his face so close to hers, he could see that they were actually both blue and green.

well, The left one was. A section of her green iris was painted blue and in the right eye, there were four clear blue spots to be seen dotting around the iris; it was strange but unique and he liked it.

''Are you just going to stare at me, bucky?'' her voice pierced the silence. He shook his head silently, a warm smile spreading over his lips before he placed them on hers. Lily's arms immediately slipped around his neck, pulling him closer and for some reason, he felt relief that she hadn't protested at all to his affection.

His body curled around hers, Lily hardly had any room to even shift a leg. Oh no, her legs were stuck up and around his waist, She was not prude woman but she hadn't expected Bucky to hold her like a python going in for a kill. It wasn't all bad, she was close to him like she always liked to be, despite knowing how to fight and kill without having to exert energy, she still felt safer when around him.

The only thing she didn't like, was all the fabric he was wearing. So, her hands slid down from his neck and to the buttons of his shirt; bucky didn't even know where her hands had gone until she was trying to pull the shirt off his shoulders. She was too sneaky for her own good.

Breaking the kiss, Bucky shrugged off the shirt and threw into whatever corner of the room. But instead of going in for a new kiss, he placed his lips on her jaw instead, her neck lulling to the side before she knew she was doing it.

''You know, buck..'' Lily breathed, pushing him up so she could look at him. ''I'm all for the slow, love stuff but maybe we could just-'' Despite wearing one of her favorite dresses, Lily ripped open the front of it; buttons breaking off.

''-Skip the foreplay'' Her eyes held question and Bucky was more than happy to answer...

A little while later, the two of them were just lying there, in the bed. Lily absently traced small patterns on Bucky's chest and he did the same on her back.

''I just have one question'' Bucky broke the comfortable silence.

''hmm?''

''What happened to the whole marriage thing?'' his question was expected. Lily had always wanted to wait until her wedding night to share a bed in such an intimate way, but since she was Nineteen, she'd never wanted that night with anyone but him. James buchanan Barnes.

''That was before you enlisted.'' Was her short answer.

''So you just what? Throw your belief out the window?''

Lily shook her head. ''I just changed it. You could die, or i could die. It's war, nothing is constant in war.''

''Well you're not going to die'' Bucky chuckled ''You were all burnt after that camp blew up.''

Lily sat up, holding the thin blanket to her chest and looking down at Bucky with the most desperate look he'd ever seen. ''Just because i'm a mutant who can heal doesn't mean i can't die. I can't heal from a bullet to the head and you're not a mutant at all.'' Bucky then realised that it wasn't herself she was worried about. It was him.

''I'm not going to die on you, Tinkerbell. I prom-''

''Don't!'' she yelled, startling him quite a bit. ''Don't promise, I hate that. People promising and then breaking them, my father promised to come back and he didn't, and you're basically saying the same thing.''

''I'm no-''

''You're human, Bucky! If the both of us fell from the top of big ben, I would survive, I would heal but you wouldn't. Because you're human and I'm a mutant. So shut up and spend time with me.''

Bucky sighed, backing down from an argument he didn't want to start. He reached out and pulled Lily back down onto his chest. ''I Just really love you'' She mumbled almost inaudibly

''I love you too, Tinkerbell. Oh! and I almost forgot, Where are my pants?''

''Your Pants?'' Lily questioned, protesting to Bucky's movement ''Why do you need pants right now?'' Bucky only looked at her and grinned that one very familiar grin and Lily sighed in realisation ''You did not spend money on me, you know I hate that''

''It wasn't like I went out with the intention to buy it.'' Bucky chuckled, rummaging through his pants pockets ''I just saw it and thought 'hey, you know who'd like that? Lily, Lily would like it.' So I bought it, the first day we got into England.''

''Was it expensive?''

''Would you believe me if I said no?'' Bucky asked, returning to the bed after getting what he was looking for.

Lily sat up and gave Bucky a blank look ''No.''

''Then yes it was. Close your eyes'' Lily rolled them first before closing them as Bucky asked, There was no point in continuing being annoyed. It was done, he had bought whatever it was and she simply had to deal with it.

Lily felt something cold around her neck and it was hard to tell that it was a necklace. Lily couldn't help but smile, she wasn't overly fond of jewellery all that much but there were certain items that would catch her eye from time to time and most of the Jewelry she owned: were all gifts from Bucky.

When she opened her eyes and looked down, She saw a locket. It would be the only locket she was to ever own as she didn't have anything to put in them. It was round and gold with a floral engraving on each side. Upon its opening, A picture of her and Bucky had been placed inside, leaving space for one other picture of her choosing.

''I hate that you spent yet more money on me but yeah, you're right. I do like it.'' It was hard to be mad at Bucky when he bought gifts for her. Though she hated that he had spent money on her, she was always happy to accept it because hey, he bought it for her and she wasn't going to refuse it.

''Where's my thank you?''

Lily grinned, letting go of the sheet she held to her chest and let it fall as she slid her arms around Bucky's neck. ''Thank you, Sergeant. For the beautiful piece of gold hanging around my neck. I shall never take it off. ...Unless I'm bathing.''

Bucky smiled smugly and pressed a kiss to her lips before the both of them, yet again, Laid down in bed.

* * *

 _Exactly the same chapter, except for a few captilisations._


	8. Chapter 8

Of course, Lily had been right as such. Bucky and Lily hardly ever had any free time together once things heated up, Steve and his merry gang of soldiers had been given a name, The howling commando's and Lily's title of Black Dragon was becoming somewhat of a superhero legend of good. But the war was still upon the world and Lily and Steve had offered their services when she needed them.

Like right now.

''Hey, hey! It's Black Dragon!'' Lily grinned as the familiar voice and several other pairs of feet waltzed up to her hiding place. Though there really wasn't anyone to hear them shout.

''Dugan, Pleasant to hear you as always.''

''That's very rude'' Dugan laughed, picking up on the sarcasm in her voice. ''And it's very cold.''

''Should have bundled up.'' She laughed as Bucky planted a small kiss on her cheek. ''Right, down to business. Now, I want all of you except Steve and bucky to make a distraction.''

''Distraction? Is that it?'' Jim Morita asked. He was the Japanese-American soldier from Fresno.

''Yes. Make noise and run, set off a couple of bombs. I don't care, just don't get shot...or caught for that matter.''

''Yes, Ma'am.'' They all chorused.

''So where exactly are we here for?'' James Montgomery Falsworth had wondered aloud, He was the British soldier Lily had nicknamed Frenchy because of the beret he always seemed to wear.

''Well, Monty dearest. This is a secret HYDRA base that holds secrets that are detrimental to my living status.'' Lily explained with a smile as if they were going simple food run. ''I need them, but the place is heavily guarded by people you cannot hope to fight. Hence, Distraction.''

''Now?''

''Now'' Lily nodded. ''Dugan, Jim, Monty and Gabriel.'' The mention men squared their shoulders in an indication of being ready to receive orders. ''I want you on the far side of the base, bringing them to you. Do it for thirty minutes and return here.''

The four men nodded and left to do as ordered. ''Dernier, Pinky, Sawyer and juniper. I want you on the other side, doing exactly the same and keeping the enemy away from the middle. Thirty minutes, return here.'' And again, they nodded, leaving to do as ordered.

Lily then turned to her two favorite boys. ''You two only have pistols for a reason. Cover me, and take out who I say, don't forget the suppressors or I swear to god.''

Lily held out her hands and the boys took one each, and they then phased out of sight. Waltzing into the enemy camp as they shouted about americans, None of them knew of the three who took a silent stroll through the base.

''That one, in the yellow.'' Lily whispered to Steve who was closest to the target. Steve raised his pistol, fired and the body went down, ''Now hide'' Lily added as she let go of their hands and approached the body.

In the fallen enemies pocket was what she was looking for, one part of a rectangular key. She studied it for a few moments before standing back up and gesturing for her boys to follow her silently.

''The one in blue'' She spoke again, this time Bucky was the one to shoot and Lily did the exact same thing. Retrieved a key part. And again with another man in green. Now with all three key parts, Lily moved to another part of the building with Steve and bucky following.

''That one in black, He's the last one.'' once he was down, Lily pulled out a knife and placed on the joint between the proximal phalanges and the metacarpal bones of the left hand.

''Whoa wait, what are you doing?'' Steve asked, horrified by what Lily was about to do.

''I need his finger. He's dead, he won't need it anyway.'' Lily replied in a tone that very much sounded like a longer version of the words 'cutting it off, duh'

She then chuckled. ''God knows i don't need the rest of him, look at him. He's useless.'' She then used her knee to cut the finger off before waltzing up a flight up stairs and stopping at what looked like a simple wall.

At least, until she removed a large brick from it. fishing the three key from her pocket, Lily connected them together to create a completed pattern on the carved side of the rectangular keys, and then placed them on the wall. using her forefinger, she pushed it in and the wall slid to the side to reveal a steel door.

''Holy cow'' she heard Bucky whisper.

Taking the bloody finger she'd been holding, she placed the pad of the finger on the scanner present and waited for the sound of the locks opening. She breathed it when she heard it and then pushed open the steel door.

''Isn't this Latin again?'' Bucky asked, looking over some of the papers present.

''Yes. I need it all. Pick it up.'' She answered, leaning over a stone in the middle of the room. It looked ancient but she could never tell with the The Order and she had no time to assess it. She carefully picked it up and put it into a nearby bag that she assumed it had been brought in with.

''Now lets go, Hurry'' Lily ran from the room and the boys followed close behind. It had been thirty minutes and she hoped all the boys would be there waiting for them. When they got to the clearing, Lily did a speedy headcount and sighed in relief when everyone was accounted for.

''Got what you needed?'' Dugan asked, grinning as usual.

''Yes. Now come on, We need to meet Howard. He's our extraction.''

* * *

Howard had picked them up right on time and the ride was mostly silent as Lily looked over the pages Bucky and Steve gathered from the vault on the enemy base. The latin wasn't hard to translate but when she returned to her office in england, she found more than she could handle on the artifact she took.

What she really should have been doing, is spending time with Bucky and Steve but instead; Lily had enlisted the help of Howard when she heard a whirring sound coming from the stone artifact.

''There's definitely something going on with this thing.'' Howard said after assessing the artifact for a few minutes. ''Or there's something in it, but like the submarine. it's-''

''Beyond our technology'' Lily said along with howard.

''That's - don't do that again please'' The genius seemed uncomfortable with her talking at the same time as him. ''What's the writing on it anyway. Looks like chicken scratch.''

''That Chicken scratch, Is ancient Greek. And I don't know it, I left home before I was taught.''

''It might have something to do with Radiation.'' Howard suggested. ''The thing is giving off tons, according to the readings.'' He added, looking down at the weird protable thing in his hands. Lily didn't ask what it was and to be honest, she didn't really care what it was.

''Lily'' Howard was met with silence as the black haired beauty stared down at the artifact.

''Lily!''

''What! Howard! I'm busy!''

''You're Stressed.'' He corrected, pulling her away from the table. ''Go home. Sleep, spend time with your man. Some fondue maybe, anything but work''

Lily sighed, lifting a hand to rub her face before nodding. ''Fine, fine, okay. I'll go. But don't touch or read anything'' Howard nodded and pushed the girl from the room. But of course, Curiosity got the better of him.

He didn't touch the artifact, oh no, but he did read a few translated pages. It may not have seemed it to others, but Howard did care for Lily as a very close friend; someone to share his thoughts and science with.

To read that she had a bounty on her head... _for_ her head, was very disconcerting. It was then he realised why Lily was mostly always on guard, and why she always worked so hard to get the answers she needed.

* * *

 **Not many changes.**


	9. Chapter 9

'I'm leaving now'' Bucky told Lily, standing in her office and waiting for her to give him attention.

''Hmm'' was her distracted answer. Lily had been studying the Artefact for the better part of two full days without sleep. Peggy, who was in the same room helping to decode the morse code while Lily worked on the stone.

''Peggy, A little help?'' Bucky asked her. the short-haired Agent chuckled before walking over to the table and removing the Artefact, forcing Lily back into the present.

''What?'' Lily questioned, looking back and forth between Bucky and Peggy. The Female agent placing the stone back on the table.

''Lover dearest is leaving for a mission,'' Peggy answered.

''Now?'' Lily stared up at Bucky. He nodded, slipping an arm around her waist and pulling her flush against him. ''Be careful.'' She whispered as she always did when he left for a mission.

''Always am, Darling.''

''Be _extra_ careful.'' She pushed her words more desperately ''I've got a bad feeling. Maybe I should go with you on this one.''

''No, no. Stay here, decipher and ...stuff.'' He chuckled in reply, kissing her forehead. ''I'll be back before you know it.'' Lily felt his arm start to retreat from her waist and she panicked, placing her hands on his neck and pulling him down for a kiss, skillfully sneaking off one of the dog tags around his neck. The bad feeling in her stomach still there and it worried her.

It surprised him, she was never one for such an open display of such a heated and desperate kiss. But she had a bad feeling stirring in the pit of her stomach and she didn't want to take any chances. Peggy left the room, giving them some privacy and things got a little more heated.

Hands on her hips, Bucky pushed her against the table, Knocking it and as a result, The artefact went tumbling off; smashing open when it hit the floor. He pulled away from the kiss, About to apologise but didn't get the chance before Lily kissed him again, situating herself on the table, sitting comfortably.

Bucky resisted the urge to groan, he missed her a lot when he was away with the howling commando's and Steve might tease him quite a bit about that, but it didn't change the way his heart ached when each mission could be his last. Overjoyed that she had chosen to wear a skirt today, Bucky's hands ventured lower as did hers; the rest of the boys could wait for a few minutes. Steve would figure out what was taking him so long anyway.

Lily's mind was a mixture of emotions and pleasure, feeling daring at what was happening at work with a door that wasn't locked. Anyone could walk in, but luckily no one did.

''I love you.'' Lily said, loud and clear but still at loss for breath, the both of them trying to fix their appearance like they hadn't just had a quick intimate moment in a work environment.

Bucky gasped in mock surprise. ''Do my ears deceive me?''

''Stop. I'm being serious, I love you more than I ever expected to love anyone.''

Bucky smiled, dropping the playful look and taking Lily's face in his hands. ''I love you too. I have to go now, The others are waiting.''

''Bye'' Bucky placed one more kiss to her lips and pulled himself away before he lost all self-control. Lily watched him leave before sighing and hopping off the table, wobbling slightly due to jelly legs. It was normal, Bucky always had that effect and once the feeling in her legs returned, she turned to the mess of stone on the ground.

Then something shiny caught her eye.

''What is-'' She trailed off, picking up a small shiny ball and dusting it off. It was about the size of a tennis ball and emitting the whirring sound Lily and Howard had heard before. Lily got up and sat at the table, trying to figure out what it was.

''Are you working again? He literally just - what is that?'' Peggy's original statement changed when she saw the silver metal ball in Lily's hands.

''I don't know. The stone fell from the table and smashed, This was inside.'' Lily squinted at the silver ball, turning it in her hands ''It looks like it opens here, but how?''

''Well if anyone can figure it out. It'll be you, Lily''

''Or Howard.''

''Or you.'' Peggy insisted. ''Howard's not the only genius here.''

''Maybe not, but I've still no idea what this is.''

Peggy patted Lily's shoulder. ''You'll figure it out, I have no doubt.''

* * *

Lily had been in her office for hours, Actually, She'd lost track of exactly how much she'd been sitting there, staring at the metal ball. Trying to figure out how to open it had proved to be more difficult than she originally thought and she was on the verge of tearing her hair out.

During her unknown time staring at the metal ball, Peggy had left the room due to the random words of Japanese that she assumed to be curses. Though amusing to find that Lily's mother language was Japanese as it had been the first language she had been taught.

Lily acknowledged that her office door had opened, knew that someone had walked in but she didn't expect this person to press themselves against her back and slid strong arms around her shoulders. At first she thought it was Bucky, but the blonde hair she saw out the corner of her eye told her differently.

''Steve? You okay, buddy?''

''I tried, Lily. I tried so hard '' Steve sniffed. He was _crying_ and she wondered why.

''Steve? What happened? Is everyone okay?'' She asked, worried and thinking the worst. Steve shook his head in the crook of her neck, it wasn't intimate of course, Lily knew that.

''Bucky'' Lily tensed at the whisper before slumping. ''The train and-and he was. I-i tried to - but he- in the ravine.''

Lily whimpered as Steve tightened his hold, it didn't stop her from falling to the ground though. Lily had never cried before, so when Steve heard the almost silent sobs, he was surprised, but at the same time, wasn't surprised.

She was phasing in and out of sight, loose strands of her hair were floating up. Hands over her mouth to silence the sobs even more, it was hard for him to see Lily so vulnerable, she had always been so strong; she hadn't looked in pain when she broke her ankle a few years ago.

Steve could feel her shoulders shaking with the sobs she tried to keep quiet and he turned her around, letting his best friend cry into his chest without anyone seeing her. Lily's hands were gripping his uniform tightly, sometimes pounding them weakly against his had taken a full two hours for Lily to tire herself out from crying, falling limp in Steve's hold as Peggy knocked lightly on the door.

''How is she?'' Peggy asked, worried for her friend and partner.

''Heartbroken, I think,'' Steve answered, standing up with Lily still in his arms. ''She tired herself out crying. I've never seen her cry before. I'm gonna take her home.''

''Of course. If she wakes, tell her Howard's handling her stuff.'' Steve nodded silently, walking passPeggyggy making sure to keep Lily's tear stained face out of view from everyone he walked past.

Lily woke up later on, Steve was long gone from the apartment and the room was pitch black; she assumed night had fallen. She slowly pushed herself up from the bed, remembering instantly why she had fallen asleep in the first place as her eyes landed his brown coat.

He'd left it there, hanging in her small closet with her clothes, along with a few other items of clothing. Lily stood up only to fall back down on the bed, she felt weak, for the first time in her life she was weak.

''I should've gone with you.'' She whispered to nothing, staring at the coat. ''I should have trusted my instincts and gone with you...but i didn't. And you died!'' Lily broke out into sobs again.

''Bastard!'' Lily grabbed the closest thing to her -which happened to be a lamp- and threw it before slumping again. ''What am I supposed to do now, Idiot?''

Lily didn't say anything else, her eyes caught her reflection in the mirror and she was appalled. Eyes puffy, nose red and her hair was sticking up all over the place. the sad, hopeless look on her face faded into the strong one she always had as she approached her mirror.

Opening one of her drawers and pulling out a blade sharp enough to cut someone's head from their shoulders. Lily removed the hair tie from her hair and the black locks fell wildly over her shoulders and down to her waist. Taking her blade, Lily hacked of her hair at the shoulders.

''It's time for a change.'' She whispered, placing down her blade and pulling her hair up into a bun. Powered her face white, outlined her eyelids and painted her lips red and she was terrified.

Terrified but thrilled. She looked almost exactly like her mother and the Order should be scared...HYDRA too. Lily wasn't going to just shoot to kill anymore, oh no. There were tricks she could do with a blade that would make even the bravest of men quiver, and she'd use them all to get what she wanted.

* * *

 **Again, virtually the same. Not mch changed.**


	10. Chapter 10

It had been no more than three days since Bucky's death. No one, not even, Peggy, Steve or Howard, had seen or heard from Lily since Steve had taken her home; but they had heard of many secret HYDRA bases 'accidentally' blowing up.

None of them knew she was throwing up, but she thought it was just because she had caught some kind of bug. She was too busy blowing up bases to bother keeping check of her health.

''Johann Schmidt belongs in a bug house. He thinks he's a God. He's willing to blow half the world prove it, starting with the U.S.A.'' Colonel Phillips said, standing in front of a map

''Schmidt's working with powers beyond our capabilities. He gets across the Atlantic, he will wipe out the entire eastern seaboard in an hour.'' Howard added, taking a seat beside of the commandos at the table. No one was aware of the extra presence in the room.

''How much time we got?'' Gabe jones asked.

''According to my new best friend, twenty four hours.'' Phillips answered.

''Where is he now?'' an older voice asked.

''Hydra's last base is here.'' Phillips pointed to a photo. ''In the Alps. Five hundred feet below the surface.''

Jim was the next to speak. ''So, what are we supposed to do. I mean, it's not like we can just knock on the front door.''

''Why not?'' The female voice spoke before Steve could, phasing into view in the middle of the table, legs crossed. ''It's exactly what we're going to do. We're going kill every last son of a bitch in there. No prisoners. No survivors.''

Lily's new appearance was somewhat of a shock to Peggy and Steve, the to her were just shocked to see her there at all. Peggy had been informed of Lily's abilities long ago, though surprised at first, she was glad Lily trusted her with such a secret. Steve was the one who knew how much Lily loved her long hair, It had been one of Bucky's favourite things about her and so Lily never had it cut.

To see it so short and up in bindings was surprising, to see her face was one as well. It was completely devoid of emotion, nothing could be read on her face, not like they were able to read her in the first place. That was the greatest thing about being her friend though, you never know what she was thinking.

But of course, she acted like she could read minds, Like now, Walking in through HYDRA's front door was what he was thinking; and he couldn't help but smile when he heard her voice speaking his thoughts.

And that lead them here, waiting for Steve to knock on that front door. Well, they were waiting, Lily was already walking in unseen as Steve rang the doorbell to get captured and find schmidt. Lily and Steve had already decided that she would sneakily take HYDRA members out without them knowing who was doing the killing.

Armed with two long blades at either waist and eight throwing knives, Lily was leaving a trail of bodies in her wake. Most of them were bleeding out from the neck, one clean slice across the middle and no one even knew she had been there. It did well to satisfy her anger and it wasn't a good thing, Lily was just becoming angrier with every HYDRA member she killed.

And while she may have promised Steve that she wouldn't go looking for the enemy, she did anyway. Finding someone unexpected once she turned into a new room, He was simply sitting down, back to her and hunched over a desk. Lily didn't know if he was sleeping or not so she stayed out of sight.

His conscious status became clear when he turned in his chair to look warily around the room. ''I know you're here'' He said quietly, wiping his hands on his white trousers. The amount of white he was wearing was terrible, blinding, but the tattoo would have gone unseen if he had not pulled his sleeve up to scratch his arm.

''I'm glad to finally meet you.'' He spoke again. ''Your mother was ...quite proud despite you abandoning her.''

''White Dragon.'' Lily stated, phasing into view as White Dragon bowed in respect. ''I've heard you want my head''

''You heard right.'' He smiled maliciously, sliding into Stance. ''And I'm thrilled to take it myself.''

Lily was no fool, her mother had taught this man just as long as she had taught Lily and so was bound to be on the same level. Lily shifted into the cat stance, all her weight rested on her back leg, bent and unwavering; her front leg rests on her toes, barely touching the ground.

White Dragon chuckled through his nose and rolled eyes, he wasn't taking the fight seriously and that gave Lily an advantage. It seems he wasn't so informed on just how good Lily was.

Lily attacked first. Launching herself up using her back leg and kicking out with the front, Which White Dragon countered with the palms of his hands. Lily quickly switched to using her hands, fingers out and tensed.

Lily's sharp nails proved useful, as she swiped them out at White Dragon and he dodged, only getting shallow slices on the sides of his neck. Both were quick and agile and neither had landed a hit.

White Dragon seemed to favour his fists and palms to strike. Aiming for more her face and stomach, areas he thought to be weakest. He was wrong and the first to land a hit.

Two fists collided painfully with Lily's stomach, but the action caused her nothing more than a little imbalance. She stumbled back two steps and kicked out on the third, switching legs and kicking out again, switch, again, switch, again, a series of kicks that met their targets on White dragon.

He realised then that though he had been taught by her teacher, he was still not on par with Lily. She would always be the favourite student, even after she had abandoned home, her mother was still proud to have taught her daughter. White Dragon was the second, less favoured student, to be always in Lily's shadow.

Lily crouched to the ground when she was close, kicking upward with her leg and slamming the heel of her foot to the underside of his chin. The small woman's hits took tolls on White dragon like no other hit had before, Not Even Red Dragon was so strong. Lily's hits were like Titanium and he was sure one o his arms were fractured if not, broken.

''You've neglected to train.'' Lily stated, slamming a palm to his nose and then another and another. Left foot colliding with his stomach and sent him back onto the wooden desk behind him, breaking it in half.

''You're so much weaker than I thought you to be.'' Lily slid her sword from it's scabbard, the sound piercing the air like he was knocking on Death's door. He thought he was ready. Ready to take on The Black Dragon but he was wrong, and he'd only just realised it.

Now there was no escape, She knew his face and she would find him if she didn't finish him now. White Dragons Pained cry sounded as did a gut wrenching crack, along with another a few seconds later. Lily had broken both his legs at the shin with her foot.

''Didn't my mother teach you the importance of Chi?'' She asked rhetorically, standing over him with a shiny steel blade at his broken nose, where he could still feel the blood flowing.

''I bet your stomach can even be pierced with this blade.'' Lily was aware that she was now slowly torturing him, as she positioned her second blade as White dragons stomach and added pressure, painfully slowly.

White Dragon cried out, soon coughing as blood pooled in his mouth, making it hard to breath. ''You're a disappointment to my mother. If your stomach can be pierced then so can your throat, and that is shameful.''

It was a strong belief in china, that Chi could strengthen the body so long as it was a daily exercise. Lily could place a spear at her neck and lean down on it but her neck would not be pierced.

''Weak and Shamed, I'm am tempted to let you live. But I won't'' Lily positioned her blade between White Dragons eyebrows. ''Because of you and your team up with HYDRA. I lost someone so very important to me.'' White Dragon was listening, but busy as well, fishing through his pocket slowly. ''So The Order of Draco will disband, or they will die. Just. Like. You.'' Lily waited, for an answer, for a mercy plead but nothing came except the fresh prick of a needle.

Lily gasped in surprise, looking down at her ankle that White Dragon had just stabbed with a syringe. ''What did you just inject me with!?'' She demanded to know, threatening him with her blade, inching it closer.

''For the order.'' White dragon said, much like Hydra agents before they kill themselves. ''You shall die.'' Steel blade painted red as Lily pushed it into his skull, Killing him in anger. Though she strangely wasn't scared, she didn't feel like she was dying. Whatever he had injected her with seemed to not be working like he wanted it too.

Lily joined up with Peggy, Phillips and the rest of the commandos in a control room, Jim sat at one of the panels as a voice came on over them.

' _Come in, this is captain Rogers. Do you read me?''_

''Steve?'' Lily said into the radio mic as Peggy came over to do the same. Jim slowly removing himself from the situation.

''Steve, is that you? Are you alright?'' Peggy asked worriedly.

'' _Lil! Peggy! Schmidt's dead._ '' Steve answered.

''What about the plane?'' Peggy inquired. Lily had missed a few things during her fight and chat with White Dragon.

' _That's a little bit tougher to explain._ '

''Give me your coordinates, Lily will find you a safe landing site.''

' _There's not going to be a safe landing. But I can try and force it down_.'

Peggy looked up at Lily desperately, but Lily was unable to help. She wasn't howard stark. ''I'll get Howard on the line, he'll know what to do.'' Lily made way to contact Howard but Steve's voice stopped her.

' _There's not enough time. This thing's moving too fast and it's heading for New York. I gotta put her in the water.'_

''No!'' Lily disagreed.

''Please, don't do this. We have time. We can work it out.'' Peggy pleaded.

' _Right now I'm in the middle of nowhere. If I wait any longer a lot of people are gonna die. Girls, this is my choice...'' Steve paused for a moment. ''Lily, You're my bestfriend and sister. You know i love you, right?''_

Lily chuckled as tears slowly fell. _''_ Yeah i know, short stack'' Steve chuckled quietly, not having heard that nickname in quite some time.

 _'Peggy?'_

''I'm here.''

 _I'm gonna need a rain check on that dance._

''Alright. A weak, next Saturday, at the Stork Club.'' Peggy and Lily were looking at each other, knowing exactly what was going to happen.

' _You got it.'_

''Eight o'clock on the dot. Don't you dare be late! Understood?''

' _You know, I still don't know how to dance.'_

''I'll show you how. Just be there.'' Both girls were trying hard to stay strong.

' _You'll have the band play somethin' slow. I'd hate to step on your.._.'' The rest was never heard as the line broke off and static replaced Steve's voice. Peggy and Lily no longer tried to stay strong, Steve was gone and while Peggy's heart may have broken.

Lily's crushed. She had lost Bucky and now she had lost Steve, the two most important people in her life and they were gone.

''Steve?''

''Steve!?'' Peggy Jumped at Lily's screeched. ''Don't you dare leave me! Bastard, Don't Leave me all Alo-'' Peggy blinked as Lily vanished before her eyes, one moment there was screeching and the next was silence.

Peggy hadn't known what happened but at the moment, she just needed to cry and mourn.

* * *

 **couple more changes. not much.**


	11. Chapter 11

The war was over. Everyone had celebrated and the excitement calmed down a few days after. Peggy and Howard hadn't seen hide nor hair of Lily since she disappeared. Sometimes, Peggy thought she saw Lily, her black hair longer as she hunched over on the street. But then Peggy would blink and she was gone. It left her confused, if she hallucinating at all, shouldn't it be Steve she would see? the man she loved instead of her best friend. Lily wasn't dead, at least Peggy thought so strongly.

Peggy now worked for the SSR, though her duties were more lunch run than kickass. It hadn't been long though before something happened, Howard Stark's weapons had been stolen. Weapons that should have been left as simple thoughts in his mind.

But no. Howard was too stupid for that, he just had to build them and then get them stolen. He was on the run, recruiting Peggy as a double agent to help him clear his name. He went away and now he's back, hiding out in Peggy's new apartment in The Griffith. Neither of them expected a loud gasp to interrupt their conversation.

''Lily!?'' The both of them exclaimed. The Japanese-American girl was hunched over breathing heavily close by the window.

''Hey...'' she breathed, smiling sheepishly.

''Where did you go?'' Peggy asked, referring to when Lily had disappeared.

''All over.'' She answered, confusing them both. ''I've been...blinking all over the world, different times, places...years. 1700's not fun.''

''That's amazing'' Howard marvelled.

''I've got new powers and I can't control them. And I'm throwing up like there's no tomorrow. Meat smells terrible which is weird Because I love meat.''

Peggy and Howard shared a knowing look, but confused on how she had no idea why she was feeling so ill. ''Lily, You're pregnant.'' It obviously shouldn't have been said so bluntly when Lily froze, hardly even blinking.

Peggy slapped Howard upside the head, the man didn't know when to hold his tongue. ''No...'' Lily whispered, denying it.

''You have all the signs, Lily'' Peggy said, softer than Howard did.

''This is-this is not good.'' Lily's eyes slowly raised to Peggy's. ''Listen, I don't know when I'm gonna blink again but You guys have to know how much I care for you. You're the best people i've met during the war an-''

And that was it, she was gone in the blink of an eye. Peggy and Howard shared another strange look, hoping that she'd blink in again one day. They didn't know that it wouldn't be any day soon.

~O~

Lily dropped onto a soft carpet, gasping, hair dripping wet after her last blink into the ocean. Looking up she found an unfamiliar house, with an unfamiliar child staring at her with wide eyes. ''Hello.'' She said slowly, giving a small wave.

''DAD!'' The child yelled, getting up off the seat to find his father. ''There's a wet lady in the living room!'' Lily closed her eyes, trying to blink from the house. So far it wasn't working and it didn't work before the child came back with his father to witness the woman standing and dripping on his expensive carpet.

''Lily'' The voice was considerably deeper, the feeling of hands holding her upright. ''Lily?'' She looked at the man and it took a while to recognise the smirk on his face.

''Howard?'' He nodded, smiling wider as he wrapped her in a hug. ''You're so old...and you're a father?''

''And a husband,'' Howard replied, pulling away from the hug. ''You've been gone for years. Come with me, all your time jumping can't be good for you baby.'' Lily was shellshock but didn't deny Howard from grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the door. ''I kept all of your things, the ones I could save. Some of the Sergeants stuff as well that you had lying about.''

''Thank you, I just -''

''Howard?'' A woman's voice called out in question, probably wondering why Howard was holding hands with a woman and leading her through his house.

''Lily, My wife Maria. Maria, Lillian Akiyama. the woman I met during the war.''

Maria's eyes softened from their accusing look and she stuck out her hand for a handshake.'' Nice to meet you. Howard told me you might pop in at some point.''

''A pleasure to meet the woman who reigned him in.'' Lily laughed, letting go of Howard's hand to take Maria's. ''He was really -''

''Damn it!'' Howard cursed as Lily vanished from sight in the middle of her sentence again. Maria stood shocked, not really at her husband's anger but at Lily's abrupt leave.

Lily bounced around and dropped into a few more timelines before collapsing, exhausted, onto a dirt road somewhere that looked a lot like Mexico. Since she had landed there before. ''Hello'' A male voice greeted calmly. Lily spun around on the spot, seeing a stranger just standing there, calmly.

''Good day?'' Lily said as more of a question than a returned greeting.

''My name is Phil coulson, I'm an Agent with S.H.I.E.L.D''

''Sounds official.'' Lily stated ''You were here waiting for me. How and why?'' She asked in a soft demanding tone, showing she wasn't a threat but wanted answers.

''You leave...signals every time you jump through time.'' Phil answered immediately, holding down a hand to help Lily up from the dirt. ''We've been studying them, trying to determine when and where, you would land next''

''Well, congrats. I don't think i'm gonna jump again, i'm...tired, Might be the baby'' Lily eyed an approaching car, but it kept blurring in and out of sight.

''You can rest in the car. We have a place set up for you in case you were here to stay.''

Lily squinted at Phil, wondering whether to trust him or not. ''You've thought of everything huh?''

''Howard Stark left a lot of Files and data on you. We hardly did anything at all.'' By the way, Phil talked about Howard, Lily assumed her friend was long gone and buried. ''Everything he saved for you is waiting in your new apartment.

''That's a Stark for you.'' Lily chuckled, now knowing she could trust phil as she followed him to the parked black car. ''Genius, stupid and determined.''

''His son is just as bad.''

Lily smiled, sliding into the back of the car and fastening the seatbelt. ''I don't doubt it. Might just have to meet him properly,'' she said, remembering the small Tony she had briefly met when she popped in on Howard later in his life.

''Of course. You may rest, if you want.''

Lily nodded, eyes slowly closing as her head fell onto Phil's shoulder. ''That sounds...nice.'' Phil couldn't help but smile, the girl sleeping on his shoulder was captain america's best friend, his sister figure.

Phil was having a fangirl moment inside his mind, getting close with the Black Dragon, and she was pregnant! Phil was going to help her of course, become good friends...maybe she would sign his cards.

Because there was one thing Lily didn't know, while Steve rogers had his Captain america comic books: Lily also had hers. Howard and Peggy had something to do with that, telling the tales of Black dragon and Captain America, best buds and partners in justice.

Phil was a huge fan, of both comics.

Once Lily had at least a few hours of rest, She'd woken up and met with one Director Fury. After two hours of being completely bored out of her mind, she wasn't taken to see the son of Howard, like she wanted.

But instead taken to the Apartment Phil had said was all ready for her. It was big but not too big and on the coffee table was a picture, one she would have recognised a mile away. Steve and Bucky, her two idiots being ...well, idiots. Bucky had his arm around Steve's neck in a headlock and while Steve tried to look annoyed, he still looked so very happy.

Phil had silently left the apartment during this time, leaving a cell phone and number on the stand beside the door. She'd learn how to use the cell and if she needed something, she'll call. For now, she needed to be alone.

And while she was alone, she took to exploring her new apartment. Silently finding where each room was and what it held, bathroom, bedroom with a king size mattress and metal frame. Old dresses and skirts in her closet...Bucky's old black coat, a few of his shirts and despite trying not to cry over them, Lily took off her clothes and slipped on his old shirt. The living room was spacious, large television with the words 'Netflix' across it, curious, Lily sat down and picked up the remote flipping through whatever a Netflix was as soon as she figured out how to work the remote.

Then she came upon it.

A golden light.

Supernatural.

With the appearance of attractive men on the front cover, Lily pressed play and soon found herself cuddled up into the corner of the couch, with a cold drink and eyes glued to the screen as she neared the end of season one.

Eyelids heavy and consciousness fading, Lily had the common sense to stop the show before she missed anything. Oh, it was far too important to miss one word of this show, and so she called it a night...or morning. Trading the couch for the bed, Lily fell into a blissful sleep, still in the shirt of her beloved.

Somewhat forgetting about what was growing inside of her.

The next day was a little more exciting, Lily woke up early and started learning how to use the Electric oven, microwave and other such items. They all had so many knobs and buttons, it was quite confusing. Once breakfast was cooked -maybe slightly over done- Lily sat back down on the couch and started a different show on Netflix.

It was a toss up between The Walking Dead and Criminal minds. The Walking Dead won eventually and so Lily got into that, the zombies gnawing at anything with a heartbeat and a couple of episodes into season 2, there was a knock at the door.

Lily paused The walking Dead and got up, sighing that she was interrupted. When she opened the door, there stood a red haired woman with a duffle bag. ''Hello?''

''Hey'' The woman smiled, though it seemed more like a smirk ''My name is Natasha Romanoff. I'm here to help you...settle in.''

''Um...okay?'' Lily was confused on why she needed help but Natasha didn't seem to notice that as she entered the apartment.

''I have everything in this bag, shall we get started?'' Lily hesitated for a moment but otherwise nodded, watching as Natasha dropped the bag on the coffee table and rummaged through it.

The Red haired Assassin had stayed for little more than a week, getting to know each other, watching and listening everything Natasha had brought over. It all started from old tv shows like The fresh prince of Bel air all the way up different music genres, Lily seemed to prefer the rock and metal, some country but otherwise stuck to the rock.

Natasha and Lily had become fast friends and SHIELD knew it. The girls were two of a kind and were very much enjoying the others company, only three weeks along in her pregnancy and natasha was already picking baby names.

''I kinda think it might be a girl'' Lily stated, looking down at her stomach.

''Primrose?'' Natasha suggested.

''Another flower. God no.'' Lily chuckled. ''Maybe something Japanese. I've got ages to decide, Nat.''

Nicknames, that was another thing, So many nicknames in just one week and a couple of days. SHIELD had been taking care of Lily's needs since she arrived, with the deal that she would work for them when her child was able to go to school.

She agreed, thinking it was the best choice, She liked Phil and she liked Natasha, even Clint who she had met a few days ago. But even though she agreed to work for them, they still decided to keep a secret from her.

A large secret of a certain super soldier who had awoken about a week before she had arrived.

* * *

 **a few changes.**


	12. Chapter 12

Lily woke up to a pounding on her door. It had been about 10 to 12 weeks that she had landed in 2012, 10 to 12 weeks that she had been friends with Natasha and the two were as close as friends could get. To see Natasha at her door so early was no unusual thing, it happened every other day, but when you're pregnant, every tiny thing seems so annoying.

''I know you're pregnant, but we need you in.''

Lily gave Natasha a 'are you fucking kidding me' look and turned, making a beeline for her bathroom to take a shower. It was so early and she was being called in for whatever reason, she certainly hoped she was allowed to kill something.

After taking her shower and dressing in normal loose blue jeans and a loose white T-shirt, Lily towel dried her hair as she met Natasha who waited patiently on the couch. Lily's stomach slightly bulging, she was about " to 3 months -give or take- along now in the pregnancy and it was beginning to show. After blowing dry the rest of the long damp hair, Lily pinned it up with a red jaw clamp.

It spiked up slightly at the back and bounced when she walked but she was ready to go wherever. Adjusting the locket around her neck, she followed Natasha into a car and when that ride was over, into a black plane -or quinjet as Natasha called it. Though Lily hadn't expected the jet to land in the middle of the ocean.

''This thing goes in the air doesn't it?'' Lily guessed, looking around. Natasha only smirked, Leading Lily over to a man who looked afraid to even be outside.

''Dr Banner.'' Natasha called, catching his attention. ''This is Agent Lily Akiyama.'' Dr Banner is one she had heard about, a man who was exposed to too much gamma radiation, therefore mutating him into a large green rage behemoth whenever he got angry.

''Dr Bruce Banner. Nice to meet you, I've heard quite a bit'' Lily smiled warmly, holding a hand out for him to shake.

Bruce slowly and hesitantly shook Lily's hand ''How much is quite a bit?''

''All of it'' Bruce was inwardly stunned by the blunt reply but was glad she wasn't walking on eggshells around him like most people liked to do. She wasn't even carrying a weapon.

''Fear not, I'm pregnant, not fat'' Lily added with a wink, noticing the way Bruce's eyes were observing her. He blushed in embarrassment as Natasha chuckled, pulling Lily away with a farewell to the good Doctor.

''Come on, Lily. Explore the Helicarrier.''

Lily turned to Natasha and grinned. ''Oh hell yeah.'' And she was off, despite being a couple of months pregnant, Lily was still flying about. She hadn't been flying as much as she used to, being tired almost all the time.

But she used it to speed around the Helicarrier, observing and memorising the layout until she came upon a most curious sight. The familiar red, white and blue suit along with the round vibranium shield. It was clean like it had just been put there for use and that was what confused her; who the hell was going to wear something that held important memories.

Wanting answers, Lily sped back to Natasha, almost knocking over Phil Coulson in the process. As soon as she hit daylight, the helicarrier began to rise and Lily froze at the sight of a familiar blonde.

The Three standing at the edge of the helicarrier didn't expect a certain black-haired mutant to slam into the back of the tall blonde, wrapping small arms around his waist. She felt his arms lift slightly as he tensed and Natasha could be heard chuckling.

''Who-who is that?'' He stuttered, trying to see the face of who had him in such a tight grip.

''You're an idiot, shortstack!'' she had no time to lock her arms, Steve had already unwound them so he could turn around and face the girl with the familiar voice.

''Lily! Wha-what are you - why are you- have you gained weight?'' Lily gave Steve a blank look and Steve was just really confused.

''That's the first thing you say to me!?'' Lily exclaimed, appalled. ''Not 'Sorry I drove my plane into the ocean, Lily and left you and Peggy all alone.' 'Oh no, of course, Steve. It's really only Peggy that was alone since I was jumping through time in no particular order.'' Steve was frozen, he didn't know what to say, he didn't know she was alive, let alone mad at him for some reason.

Natasha, who couldn't have found that particular sentence more amusing, interjected before the dragon was released. ''Lets go inside, shall we?'' Natasha linked her arms through Lily's and the two girls started walking as the boys walked behind them silently.

''So, I have a name!''

Lily rolled her eyes ''What is it then, Lay it on me''

''Natasha''

''How about, No.'' Lily chuckled ''I'm not naming her after you. Maybe the next one, if there is a next one.''

''Who are you naming?'' Steve asked curiously from behind them, Natasha and Lily stopped walking which in turn caused the boys to stop. The girls had a silent conversation with their eyes before nodding at each other.

''I think it's best we wait until after the threat is done to tell you.'' Lily smiled, eyes closing ''Considering who you are as a person and everything.'' It confused Steve but he had no other room to talk as the four of them continued to walk until they reached the main control room of the helicarrier.

Lily stood to the side as she looked out of the helicarrier window, how high they were and she didn't need to lift a finger. Nick fury greeted Dr Banner and Steve was just about marvelling and everything, no doubt getting used to this time

''Where are you with that?'' She heard Bruce ask Nick, assuming he was referring to the search on the tesseract.

We're sweeping every wirelessly accessible camera on the planet. Cellphones, laptops. If it's connected to a satellite, it's eyes and ears for us.'' Phil Coulson explained after Nick looked at him.

''That's still not gonna find them in time.'' The picture of Clint Barton -another agent and friend- was all too clear for Lily to see. She may have been close with both Clint and Natasha, but she was nowhere near as close with him like Natasha was.

''You have to narrow the field. How many spectrometers do you have access to?''

''How many are there?'' Nick inquired

''Call every lab you know, tell them to put the spectrometers on the roof and calibrate them for gamma rays. I'll rough out a tracking algorithm based on cluster recognition. At least we could rule out a few places. Do you have somewhere for me to work?'' Lily understood only the question in Bruce's sentence, the science talk was way too much for her to understand. She had yet to brush up on the newest science in this time.

''Agent Romanoff, would you show to his laboratory, please.'' Natasha nodded and led Bruce down the hall as Nick turned to Lily.

''Agent Akiyama, Thank you for coming on such short notice'' Nick said, a sort of kind look overtaking his face as he talked casually with Lily, Steve within earshot. ''I know you still need rest but I thought it best to bring you in as support.''

Lily smiled. ''I'll provide any help I can, Even field work. I just have to be careful not to get hit in the stomach.'' She joked, having a playful moment that was rare to have with Nick Fury, as he was always very untrusting and stressed, maybe even a little angry.

''I'd prefer you not to get hit at all.'' Nick joked back before turning and going back to telling everyone what to do.

''What is it you're not telling me, Lily?'' Steve asked in the voice that usually meant 'tell me, or I'll find it out myself'. Lily sighed, debating whether or not to actually tell him about the baby. The silent conversation with Natasha had been the girls agreeing to keep it a secret as Steve would demand that Lily go home and stay out of danger.

''I-i'' Lily stuttered, somehow becoming that girl from the past who had to keep her whole being a secret from him. Steve raised an eyebrow, waiting patiently for an explanation. ''I...may be ...a little bit...pregnant.''

Steve's face washed out from expectant to confusion and then happiness and then shock. ''Pregnant!? H-how long have you been in this time? Are you married?! Who's baby is it?! How far along are you?! ''

The sudden array of questions left Lily speechless before finally finding the words on her tongue. ''Yes, pregnant, I've been in this time for about 12 weeks, I'm not married, I'm about 2 months pregnant, maybe 3, I'm not all that sure, to be honest. And She's Bucky's''

''Bucky's baby?...wait...she?'' Lily nodded, Steve's face going solemn when he thought about his best friend.

Lily laughed and nodded, tears springing to her eyes. ''It uh, I think it is the effect of the thing we did before he...you know on the train? Yeah, I have a feeling it's a girl. And she'll grow up without a father.''

Steve wrapped Lily up in a hug, being careful of the stomach that was popping out as opposed to the usual flat and muscled one she used to have, you know, before she started growing another life in her uterus.

''But she'll have a strong mother. And of course, me. I'm already planning to spoil this baby'' Despite all that was happening, Steve hadn't told her to go home and sit out this search for the tesseract. She was exactly what Steve said.

A strong woman. A soon to be mother, and she was sure a new anger would come along with that job. The job of mother bear and cubs.

* * *

 **Not much changed again. Are you sick of it yet XD**


	13. Chapter 13

''Loki. Drop the weapon and stand down.'' Lily spoke over the small planes PA. She was Natasha's co-pilot, not that she was needed and they were in Stuttgart, Germany to take Loki, a Norse god, into custody.

Loki fired his staff at the plane, the blue light missed Lily and Natasha as they dodged it in time. It was kinda difficult to manoeuvre a large flying hunk of metal since it was heavy and only in the air through whatever engineering, but it did pretty well when the fight between a super soldier and God happened, Lily really wanted Steve to win despite being a big fan of the god of mischief.

''Guys all over the place'' Natasha mumbled, trying to get a lock on the god as Steve and Loki fought below, the crowd of people now scattered and long gone from the area.

''Agent Romanoff. Miss me?'' A voice hijacked the headphones, Lily looked to Natasha in Confusion as 'Shoot to thrill' started to play. Out of nowhere, she watched a red and gold robot thing fly in and send Loki into the stone steps.

''Make your move reindeer games.'' Loki's royal attire faded away and he held up his hands in surrender. In turn, the red robot lowered his own hands from their defensive position. ''Good move''

''Mr Stark'' Lily's head snapped up to stare at Natasha in surprise. She'd had no idea Tony stark would be here, Lily had not yet had the chance to meet Howard's son since falling into this timeline. Being pregnant and catching up on all the technology took a while and in the end, Lily just forgot.

''Captain'' Taking extra precautions. Loki was brought onboard the jet, handcuffed and sat on the side silently. Lily was turned in her seat, staring at Tony and his red robotic suit.

He took his helmet off and turned to Lily, pointing ''Why are you staring at me.''

''It's wonderful to finally meet you, Tony.'' She smiled fondly. ''You look so much like your father. Also, I'm sorry for scaring you when I dropped in on your carpet.''

''It is isn't- Wait, what?'' Tony's arrogant tone fell when he registered Lily's last sentence. The way she had said the words were sad but fond like she'd personally known him. ''That couldn't possibly be you, that was years ago.''

''Yeh, I had bit of a problem with my powers, It's all good now.'' Lily turned and went to sit by Natasha again, not giving Tony time to respond, not that Tony had the words to respond with.

''is he saying anything?'' Nick's voice appeared.

''Not a word'' Natasha answered.

''Just get him here, we're low on time.''

Steve and Tony conversed quietly behind them and Lily jumped in surprise when thunder sounded overhead. ''Where is this coming from?'' She mumbled, looking over at Natasha.

''What's the matter? Are you scared of a little lightning?'' Steve directed towards Loki, who looked a little worried at the appearance of the storm.

''I'm not overly fond of what follows.''

''Oh shit!'' Lily cursed loudly, turning in her seat. ''Are you kidding me!'' she shouted at Loki, whose face took on the look of surprise at the human girl who dared to raise her voice to him. ''One god, I can handle, two!? God damn it, Loki!''

The jet shook a little as something landed on the top. Both Tony and Steve grabbed their helmets and Tony open the Jets back hatch, looking for what landed on the jet before being thrown back to the cockpit where Natasha and Lily were sitting.

The newly arrived Blonde god grabbed Loki and with a swing of the mighty hammer, flew from the jet. ''Another Asgardian!?'' Natasha inquired loudly.

''Think the guys a friendly?'' Steve wondered aloud.

''Doesn't matter. If he frees Loki or kills him. The tesseracts lost.''

''Stark! we need a plan of attack!'' Steve told him.

''I have a plan. Attack.'' Tony flew from the jet after Thor and Loki, Steve taking the initiative and grabbing a nearby parachute.

''I'd sit this one out, cap!'' Natasha suggested, pushing buttons.

''I don't see how I can.''

''Steve, These two come from Legends, they're gods!'' Lily tried to reason with her friend but knowing him, he just continued to buckle himself into the parachute.

''There's only one god, Lily and I'm pretty sure he doesn't dress like that'' Without any more words, Steve jumped from the Jet with his shield in hand. Lily sighed and shook her head.

''Might as well turn around and land, Nat. I could do with a piss.'' Natasha laughed and turned the plane. Once they landed, Lily all but flew from her seat to see Steve, Tony and Thor bringing Loki towards the plane.

''Ahh, good. But we're not taking off just yet'' Lily said, walking past them.

''Lily, Where are you going!?''

''I need the toilet!''

''I should go with you, you might trip over the trees or some roots'' Steve said, being the usual protective friend but it wasn't really needed.

''Oh my god, Steve. I can piss on my own. I'm pregnant, not impotent.'' Lily was in a bad mood, something about pregnancy made her want to pee more than usual and she was craving Lasagna. Lily disappeared into the woods and did her business, feeling very much relieved. The boys all looked at her in confusion as she came skipping back onto the jet, to her seat next to Natasha.

Back at the Helicarrier, Thor, Steve, Natasha and Bruce were all situated around a table, listening as Nick fury talked to Loki. Lily, was doing the same thing...only with a glass pan filled with beef lasagna.

'In case it's unclear if you try to escape if you so much as scratch that glass. It's thirty thousand feet straight down in a steel trap, get how that works?' The floor under the glass cage had opened up into a literal hole in the helicarrier. Closing again when Nick pushed the same button.

''Ant. Boot''

Loki chuckled, walking around the cage ''It's an impressive cage, not built I think, for me.''

''Built for something a lot stronger, than you.''

''Oh I've heard. A mindless beast makes play he's still a man.'' It was quite obvious to everyone that Loki was referring to Bruce ''How desperate are you, that you call upon such lost creatures to defend you''

'How desperate am I?' Nick repeated the question before continuing. ''You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill 'cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate.''

''Ooh, it burns you to have come so close. To have the Tesseract, to have power. And for what? a warm light for all mankind to share. And then to be reminded of what real power is.''

'Well let me know if real power wants a magazine or something.'' Nick retorted, walking away from the cage and the holding room it was in.

''He really grows on you, doesn't he?'' Bruce gave a sarcastic smile as the screens went black. Loki no longer presented on the cool built-in table tv's.

''Loki's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?'' Steve said, asking a question towards the Norse god.

''He has an army, called the chitauri...They're not of Asgard nor any world known.'' Thor spoke, looking as though he was a hurt dog when his brother didn't give up the evil 'take over the world' plan. ''He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract.''

''An Army? From outer space?''

''So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for.'' Dr Bruce Banner spoke, reminding Lily of the doctor Loki had under his control. The poor man probably had friends, family, all wondering if he was okay.

''Selvig?'' Thor questioned, knowing the name.

''He's an Astrophysicist.''

''He's a friend''

''Loki has him under some kind of spell, along with one ours.'' Natasha locked eyes with Lily, the two of them feeling a little upset over Clint and his temporary and unwilling partnership to the dark side.

''I wanna know why Loki let us take him. He's not leading an army from here.''

Bruce looked at Steve for a moment as Lily finished up the food she had, pushing the glass pan away from her. ''I don't think we should be focusing on Loki. That guy's brain is a bag full of cats, you could smell crazy on him.''

''Have care how you speak. Loki is beyond reason, but he is of Asgard, and he's my brother.''

''He killed eighty people in two days.''

''And he doesn't seem to express remorse. Kinda screams Psychopath.'' Lily added after Natasha spoke, raising an eyebrow at Thor and how he can defend his own brother after so many murders that Loki was willing to commit.

''He's adopted.'' Lily rolled her eyes at the Asgardian as Bruce continued.

''I think it's about the Mechanics. Iridium, what did they need the Iridium for?''

''It's a stabilizing agent'' Tony informed, walking into the room with Phil Coulson next to him. He spoke a couple of words to Phil before addressing the room again. ''Means the portal won't collapse on itself like it did at SHIELD.'' He walked past Thor slapping the man lightly on the arm ''No hard feelings, Point Break. You've got a mean swing. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Loki wants.''

Tony walked to the four screen panels that controlled the Carrier, making jokes as Lily assumed he mostly did. ''Uh, Raise the mid-mast, Jib the topsails. That man is playing Galaga!'' Tony's arm flung out, pointing at a crew member playing an old arcade game on the computer in front of him. ''Thought we wouldn't notice, but we did.'' He then covered his eye and looks around at the screens. ''How does Fury even see these?''

''He turns.'' Maria Hill, one of the crew members answered, looking annoyed.

''Sounds exhausting,'' Tony said, turning back around to the screens and fiddling with them. ''The rest of the raw materials, Agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube.''

''When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?''

''Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading?''

''Yes. yes, you are.'' Lily told him, answering the somewhat rhetorical question

''Does Loki need any particular kind of power source?'' Steve asked, Patting Lily on the back softly as she stroked her forehead, feeling a headache coming on as Bruce spoke again.

''He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through to coulomb barrier.''

''Uness, Selvig has figured out how to stabilise the quantum tunnelling effect,'' Stark added

''Well if he could do that, he could achieve heavy iron fusion at any reactor on the planet.''

'' Finally, someone who speaks English'' the billionaire smiled somewhat, approaching Bruce.

''It that what just happened?'' Steve wonder

Lily shook her head, the headache pounding with each science word spoken. All this new science stuff was just drilling into her mind and not in the good 'i learning' way ''No it wasn't'' She said as Tony and Bruce shook hands, Bruce looked a little uncomfortable doing it.

''It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. You're work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled. And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous green rage monster.''

Bruce looked down, not definitely uncomfortable with what Tony had just said to him. ''Thanks.''

''Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube. I was hoping you might join him.'' Fury spoke as he walked in, returning from talking with Loki

''Let's start with that stick of his. It may be magical, but it works an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon.'' Steve aid, reminding Lily of how she wasn't actually supposed to be in the 2000's timeline. She often forgot, having settled already, she found herself oddly at home; even if she still felt a bit lonely.

''I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Loki used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys.'' Lily gave a chuckle at Fury's reference as well. The one-eyed man was often the man to listen to if she wanted a laugh, references just came pouring out and sometimes, Lily thought even Fury himself didn't know he was doing them.

''Monkeys? I do not understand.'' Thor said, confused before Steve suddenly spoke up.

''I do! I understood that reference.''

''You haven't understood much since waking up have you, Steve?'' Lily asked, chuckling as she stood up and clapped him on the shoulder. Holding her stomach, Lily groaned as Tony and Bruce walked away ''I need a wee''

''Again?''

''I have a growing human pushing against my bladder, Steve. Yes. Again.'' She walked away with Natasha following her; suggesting baby names all the while they walked to the bathroom and even when she was sat on the porcelain throne.

''Abigail?'' Natasha suggested through the door.

''No, I don't think that would suit her very much.'' Lily replied, trying to pee but for some reason just couldn't. In the end, she gave up, standing and pulling up the trousers she wore, doing them up and proceeding to wash her hands. ''My hands look swollen, They look swollen to you?'' She asked, kicking open the door with a foot and showing her wet hands to Natasha.

''A little bit. It's just the pregnancy.''

''Why do you know more about this than i do?''

Natasha shrugged. ''Danniella?''

''I like that.''

''Ooh, we have a possible name!'' Natasha smiled, her mind finally off of Clint and his predicament. Natasha then placed a hand to her ear, listening to voice coming through. ''Fury needs me to interrogate Loki. I will be back.''

''I dont doubt it.'' Lily mumbled, watching her friend walk away. Walking around the large flying ship, Lily was bored, she didn't know what she could do while Tony and Bruce looked for the Teseract. When Natasha's voice came over her earpiece on how Loki was planning to release the Hulk, Lily only hoped he didn't mean releasing it on the ship while they were so far in the sky.

So she met them at the lab, as the sun rose to break a new day. ''You want to think about removing yourself from his environment, Doctor?''

''I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed.'' Bruce chcukled sarcastically in reply.

''Loki is manipulating you.'' Natasha told him, though he didn't seem in the mood for any of her crap.

''And you've been doing what exactly?''

''You didn't come here because i bat my eyelashes at you.''

''And I'm not leaving because you suddenly get a little twitchy.'' He replied. ''I want to know why S.H.I.E.L.D is using the tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.'' Lily's eyebrows rose at the sound of the sentence, looking to Fury in shock.

''What?'' Fury looked to Lily silently before lifting his arm and pointing at Thor.

''Because of him''

''Me?'' Thor repeated, confused.

''Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge that levelled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, out gunned.''

''My people want nothing but peace with your planet.''

''But you're not the only people out there, are you? And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who cant be matched, that cant be controlled.''

''Like you control the cube?''

''your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is a signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war.''

''higher form? How high is higher?'' Lily asked, not getting an answer though.

''You forced our hand, we had to come up with some-''

''A nuclear deterrent'' Tony interrupted fury. ''cause that always calms everything down.''

''Remind me again how you got your fortune stark.''

''Im sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck deep in-''

''Wait hold on, hold on, How is this now about me?''

''I'm sorry, isn't everything.'' Lily rolled her eyes, feeling another headache coming on at the boy's pissing match.

''I thought humans were more evolved than this.'' Thor said, only stiring the pot.

''Excuse me do we come to your planet and blow stuff up?''

''Did you always give your champions such distrust?''

Lily backed herself into the wall as her headache grew, everyone talking at once, arguing all at once was spinning her mind so fast and the ringing she was hearing wasn't doing her any favours either. ''Do you have to argue so loud.''

''And why is the pregnant woman here?'' Tony brought Lily into the argue, gesturing over to the woman. ''How much help can she possibly be? Look at her, She's tiny!''

''She's stronger than you.'' Steve defended.

''Stop, Steve.'' Lily mumbled, for some reason she felt like she was going to throw up. Something in her stomach...uterus was unsettling both her and life inside her ''The baby.''

''You speak of control yet you court chaos.'' The room quietened as Thor spoke, Lily's head finally feeling as though it was calming. the baby? Not so much.

''It's his M.O., isn't it? I mean, what are we, a team? No, no, no. We're a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We're... we're a time-bomb.''

''You need to step away.'' Fury told Bruce.

''Why shouldn't the guy let off a little steam?'' Tony wondered aloud, throwing an arm over steve's shoulders.

Steve removed it immediately. ''You know damn well why! Back off!''

''Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me.''

''Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?''

''Genius, billionare, playboy, Philanthropist.''

''I know guys with none of that worth ten of you. Yeah, I've seen the footage.'' Steve replied. ''The only thing you really fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.'' Steve looked at Lily, the eye contact portraying that he was thinking of a certain dark haired friend they both missed.

''I think I would just cut the wire.'' Both boys were in each others faces, sizing up to see who would back down first. Lily was getting annoyed with it, this wasn't the Steve she once knew.

''Always a way out... You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.''

''A hero? Like you? You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle!''

''Enough!'' Lily screamed, The gush of air that hit Steve made him realise just how her powers reacted to her emotions. ''I'm so sick of this contest on whose dick is bigger. I don't even know who you are right now!'' She looked at her blond friend. Steve didn't meet Lily's eyes, feeling as though she were right, it was the first time she was seeing him again and he was acting like a completely different person.

The stern look never fell from his face though.

''You people are so petty... and tiny.'' Thor laughed, most likely enjoying the petty squabbling.

''Agent Romanoff, would you escort back to his...''

''where?'' He asked, ''You rented my room.''

''The cell was just in case-''

''In case you needed to kill me, but you can't, I know, i tried''

The room fell silent, Lily's eyes closed as she felt her heart clench in sadness. Bruce seemed so nice, he was smart and so deserving of a happy life but thanks to one accident, he was constantly trying not to snap.

''I got low. I didn't see an end, so I put a bullet in my mouth and the other guy spit it out! So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good, until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk! You wanna know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You wanna know how I stay calm?''

''Dr Banner.'' Lily spoke calmly, staring Bruce in the eyes as he turned to look at her. Natasha looked completely unnerved with hand close to her gun, and Lily didn't need a huge green rage monster destroying the ship while she and her baby were on board. ''Please put down the sceptre.''

Bruce looked down at the sceptre, his eyes conveying confusion as to when exactly he had picked it up, but as the computer beeped. ''Sorry, kids. You don't get to see my little party trick after all.'' Bruce told them, putting the sceptre back down in its cradle and walking to the computer.

''Located the Tesseract?'' Thor asked As Bruce checked the monitor. Once again, different arguments started at once, Lily rolled her eyes at the boys; not particularly wanting to exert more energy than she needed to jut in case something happened.

''Oh, my God!'' She heard Bruce mumble to himself as he looked at the screen.

She walked over, looking confused as she asked the question. ''What is it?'' The moment she finished the words, an explosion happened, blowing everyone in different parts of the ship. She went hard into the wall, smashing a few monitors that were hung there. ''Fuck'' she coughed, leaning up on her elbows, using one hand to wrench out the now damaged ear piece that was in the side of her head that smashed against the wall.

''Lily!''

''I'm fine! The baby's fine, Everything is fine!'' She answered to Steve's worried call of her name. Lily got to her feet, wobbling slightly as one hand fell to her stomach. Sighing, Lily left the room to see what side of the ship had just been blown to kingdom come, no more than 2 minutes later and a roar echoed throughout the hovercraft.

Groaning, Lily made her way round a few broken items, snatching up a spare Comm and flying out of the nearby broken window; hopefully avoiding the large green rage monster that was now running around 30,000 feet about the ground.

''I regret coming in today.''

* * *

 **Little to no changes.**


	14. Chapter 14

Lily was tired, she had a headache, her stomach was unsettled. She had circled back around and entered the Helicarrier after flying out of a broken window, Feeling tired whilst flying 30,000 feet above the earth's surface was not ideal. The baby herself was unsettled and Lily could feel it, a lifeform that shouldn't have the mindset to feel emotions was doing just that, then again, when was a mutant pregnancy normal?

Lily swung her arm out as a hostile appeared around the corner she had just stopped at to rest. She had come to realise there were enemies on the ship as well as the Hulk, in avoiding one, she crossed the other. It was as soon as they started losing altitude that Lily had gotten round to where Steve was, completely bypassing her friend to get to Tony Stark.

''What are you doing here!?'' Tony had shouted the moment she had appeared by his side to help push the rotors.

''Helping!'' She grunted as the Rotors started to move.

''You're pregnant!''

''Thanks I hadn't noticed!'' Lily continued to push and Tony didn't argue with her despite wanting to. They pushed it together in silence awaiting the moment when Steve would pull the lever down. When the blade they were pushing started to come away, Lily gave a quick look in Tony's direction before flying upwards and out of the firing line just in time for the Rotors to speed up.

Tony was fine, he sustained barely any damage due to his suit after being set free of the spinning rotors. Lily followed him around, saw him take out an enemy that was firing at Steve and as both men rested, she came to do the same next to her best friend.

''Are you okay!?'' He hurried to ask, all traces of fatigued removed, large hands placing themselves on her stomach. ''...That...your stomach feels bigger.''

''What do you mean bigger? It can't be bigger, you're tired, rest.'' Steve nodded, pulling Lily into his side and resting for a few minutes. The helicarrier began to calm, Loki was gone, Fury's devastating message was heard by all staff on the ship and the feeling of loss was heavy throughout the atmosphere on the ship. Natasha met with Lily as she was being checked over by medics, worried as all hell.

''The baby?''

''Just fine.'' Lily sighed, though smiling. Everyones worry for the baby was completely misplaced, Lily was more than capable of protecting her child. ''Although, Steve said something earlier that concerned me.''

Natasha's face fell from worry and turned into confusion. ''What?''

''My baby bump...It's bigger.'' Lily explained. ''At least, it feels like it's bigger like a few more weeks have passed.''

''What do you think it could be?''

''I don't know. I'm not exactly a normal human, but I feel this child might just make an appearance far more quickly than it should.'' No one knew what to else to say. Natasha had gone after a little while to see how Clint was, Fury had come by to check on her and so had Maria. The only one who hadn't come to her room to see how she or the baby was doing, was Steve, who walked with purpose and held something in his hand.

''Put this on.'' He placed the item on her lap, watching as she picked it up and looked it over with a slight smile. It was well made, a two-part mask that consisted of the mask -to cover the face- and the helm- to cover the head. It was a dark grey, almost black but not quite, covered in scales.

The helm itself, wrapped around the back of her head, just to the top of her neck. It sported horns, two big ones at either side of the top of her head, a smaller one right beside each big one and then three more about an inch away from the initial smaller horns. The top, Scaled metal pointed over her forehead, triangular and at the side of her face, the helm ended with sharp edges resting just at the corners of her mouth.

The mask was shaped into a snout, also given the visage of scales. it covered the rest of her face where the helm didn't and kept her eyes covered by a thin plastic material that seemed to glow a hellish red. Lily had to smile at the amount of detail in it, she knew who had to have made this. A mask fit for her.

''I suppose I've got to do what a Dragon does best?''

As much as Steve didn't like it, they needed all the help they could get. Lily shuffled her way off the bed and followed her best friend through the helicarrier, to the flight bay and onto a jet.

''You guys aren't authorised to be in here-'' The stranger pilot spoke before Steve interrupted.

''Son, just don't.''

Taking control of the Jet, Clint and Natasha took the pilot seats, Leaving Lily to sit tight. ''You should go ghost, give an advantage to this fight. Loki doesn't know about your abilities.'' Steve explained, standing next to Lily.

''I can't.'' Lily finally replied. '' You don't know what happened to me. I don't know what happened to me.''

''You can't have lost your powers?''

''Some, not all.'' Lily sighed, having no other choice but to explain quickly before this fight. ''Something happened after you went down. I could hear Peggy crying, my own crying, I remember screaming and then suddenly I was slap bang in the middle of the Boston tea party.''

''I don't understand.''

''I kept jumping through time. Back and forth with no idea when or for how long I would be there. Until finally, I dropped here and here I've been but, Invisibility? That is gone and I haven't had the chance to see if its completely gone, or it's just dormant.''

''Just your secret order skills then?''

''Yeah basically.''

Basically was an understatement, Besides her Flight and strength, Lily's powers had all but dwindled and she had no idea it was because of White Dragon back in the 40's. The serum he jabbed her with wasn't just an ordinary serum but by now, all traces of it had already merged with her cells. The rest of the ride was silent until finally, they arrived by Stark tower, trying to help Thor with Loki but instead losing one of the engines.

Steve and Lily held tight to the top of the jet as they crash landed.

''We gotta get back up there!'' Steve spoke as they ran from the Jet and around towards the direction of Stark Tower.

''I can only take one.'' Lily offered her power of flight up as a taxi service. The four watched the big blue hole in the sky as alien warriors flew from it, following them was what could only be described as a giant metal, silverfish. A flying, giant, metal silverfish.

It flew down and over their heads, dropping more alien warriors as it went by.

''Stark are you seeing this!?'' Steve spoke into the earpiece, Tony's voice replying not seconds later.

'' _Seeing. Still working on believing. Wher's Banner, has he shown up yet_?''

''Banner?''

' _'Just keep me posted!_ ''

''Right, well I can't just stand here to think of a plan. I'm going to help kill stuff now.''

She jumped up, her flight power taking over and flying away from her friends. ''Lily!'' Was the called from Steve that she ignored in favour to help the civilians stay alive. Honestly, Lily needed to let off some steam too and what better way than killing a bunch of Space Invaders. A little while later, she had noticed the Hulk had joined the fray, easily dispatching any Alien in his path.

''Tink! How are you feeling!?'' Steve's voice called to her through the earpiece, obviously worried for her and the baby.

''Invigorated.''

Steve grinned, feeling more at ease about his pregnant best friend out in the fight alone. At least she was alone, flying around the city destroying any and all Aliens was bound to bring her to someone at some point. That someone happened to be Tony Stark yet again, surrounded by a whole bunch of Aliens.

She landed on the shoulders of an Alien to his left, throwing her body weight backwards and using the grip in her legs to bring the Alien with her. When situated underneath herself, she grabbed a hold of its head and turned it sharply to the side; hearing the crack and feeling the creature go limp.

''How long!?'' she heard Tony say to himself or someone else as he started to get up off the ground. ''Can you handle this! We got a bogey coming in!'' Tony said towards Lily, who ducked under the shot of an alien gun.

''Go!'' And Tony did, leaving her to deal with the Aliens as he dealt with the Bogey that was Apparently coming in.

''I can close it.'' Natasha's voice appeared in her ear. ''Can anybody copy? I can shut the portal down.''

''Do it!'' Steve had instructed with urgency.

''No wait.''

''Stark these things are still coming!''

''I got a nuke coming in. It's gonna blow in less than a minute. And I know just where to put it.'' Lily stood still as she killed the last Alien around her. Tense and upset that Ton had to do this.

''Stark, You know that's a one-way trip.'' Tony didn't answer that and Lily thought it time to return to where her teammates were, Finding Thor and Steve just as Tony flew overhead with the Nuke and right up into the Portal. She dropped to her feet just as a chitauri warrior fired his gun, the sharp intake of breath was well founded as the shot collided with her stomach and the panic that ran through her and Steve's entire body was cold with dread.

Until she realised she hadn't felt any pain, confused, she took a look at the Chitauri warriors, seeing the look of confusion in their body language an with a look down to her stomach, she saw it.

Blue, circular and swirling with light before it shrunk into nothing. ''What was that?'' Steve had asked and Lily couldn't do anything but shrug in stunned surprise

''The baby? But its too soon, and she shouldn't be able to use from inside the womb.'' Lily replied before looked back up at the Portal, hoping Tony would fall through and so did Steve until it seemed unlikely that Tony would return. ''Close it.''

Yet, Moments before the closed, All the chitauri fell dead and through the Portal - just before it sealed- fell the red suit of Iron Man. ''Son of a gun.''

''He's not slowing down.'' Thor spun his hammer, ready to grab tony before he hit the ground, but a certain green beast beat him to it. As soon as they both landed, the three ran over, hoping that Tony was still alive.

Thor removed the mask and Steve knelt over to check for Tony's breath. It wasn't until the Hulk decided to Roar that Tony woke up with a start. ''What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me.''

''We won.'' Steve informed with relief, Lily standing behind him with hands on his shoulders.

''Alright, yay!'' Tony cheered halfheartedly. ''Good job guys, Lets just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day. you ever tried Shawarma. There's a Shawarma joint not too far from here. I don't know what it is but I want to try it.''

''We're not finished yet,'' Thor spoke, looking up towards the tower. That's when Lily remembered the cause of all of this, sitting up in that tower was the man who brought so much destruction and everyone saw the tight, angry look in her body language that made her mask all the more scarier before she flew straight for the tower.

He laid there in the rubble, eyes closed as he tried to regain his strength to even stand after the Hulks short assault on him. He heard the footsteps before he saw her, but as he opened his eyes, he wasn't ready for the bright glowing red ones that stared back, not 4 inches from his face. He screams for a second in surprise before he contained it.

''Are uh, Are you aware you have steam coming out of your nose?'' Loki spoke to the silent Dragon masked woman in front of him. He was right, not that she knew that out of the nostril holes of her mask was steam, as though the inside was smoking with so much heat.

''You...'' The deathly calm voice of the woman was unnerving him, though he would not admit it out loud. ''..Are so lucky that my baby and I are not human. Because if I had lost her today, there would have been no mercy. No amount of begging or white flag waving would have saved you from me.''

''Lily.'' Steve's voice appeared as the man himself and the others arrive at the top of Stark Tower. Clint had his bow drawn in Loki's direction. Lily moved backwards, putting space between her and Loki.

''If its all the same to you.'' The god in green spoke. ''I'll take that drink now.''

''I'm gonna smash it on your face.'' Lily threatened.

''Lily.'' Steve's warning was not unheard.

''I'm gonna walk away.'' She corrected through gritted teeth before she walked away. It took a while, to get everything back to normal, Loki stayed in custody and so did the tesseract for all but a couple of days before Thor decided it was time to go back to Asgard.

The Avengers gathered together to watch the departure, the Tesseract was placed in a cylindrical container with handles at each end, Thor took one handle and Loki took the other; both disappeared in a blue light. Natasha and Clint drove off in a car together after hugging Lily goodbye. Tony came over and dropped a metal ball with a few papers in her hand silently before walking away and getting in his car, driving off with Bruce in a different direction.

''Are you ready, Tinkerbell?'' Steve smiled, slinging an arm around her shoulders as she gripped tightly to the metal ball and folded the papers to put in her pocket.

''Yeah Shortstack.'' She grinned, allowing her friend to lead her to his motorcycle.

Steve groaned a name he hadn't really heard of forever making its return. ''I'm not short anymore.''

''You'll always be Short to me.''

As much as he hated the name, Steve couldn't help but smile as he threw a leg over his bike, Lily doing the same to seat herself behind him. Steve and Lily were inseparable for the next few weeks, catching up on everything. He helped her pick baby names and baby clothes and quite literally replaced Natasha until she returned and joined them.

Of course, being a mutant. Nothing was ever easy, Especially a pregnancy.

* * *

 **A few Changes**


	15. Chapter 15

Two years had passed since the events of New York. Two years since a god brought an army. Two years, since Lily realised her pregnancy was far from normal.

Steve was right when he said her stomach had grown bigger that day on the helicarrier when everything went wrong. She knew he was right when her five-month pregnancy looked like she had hit the nine-month mark. Lily's baby was growing at an alarming rate, far quicker than any normal pregnancy.

Almost six months since the Events of New York and Steve had stood beside his best friend as she sat in a hospital bed, pushing for dear life to get her child out of her uterus. He held her hand, and he didn't let go until he heard the cries of a newborn baby girl. Lily named the child, Aloy, referencing one of her favourite books that featured time travel, considering that's exactly what she did while pregnant with her daughter.

With no danger's to a life inside of her, Lily looked at the Metal ball Tony had given to her. The same one she had found back in the 40's...when Bucky was still with her. The line across it told her it could be opened and Lily spent a good ten minutes trying to open it. But once it opened, it did so with a 'shunk', blowing air out of the sides.

Inside was a glowing stone, the light seemed to glow a bit brighter before rushing forward and darting up Lily's nose. She gasped in surprise, dropping the metal ball with a now bland stone inside of it in favour of holding her nose. Lily went to look at herself in the mirror, her appearance hadn't changed, and she didn't feel any different really.

The papers Tony gave her were all in Greek, the same as the metal ball was when it was covered in the rock and dirt.

Aloy was a tiny little tike ...for three weeks. A month after she was born and Aloy had become a toddler, Mutant powers overtaking and furthering her growth. At a year old, Aloy looked like a child who had been alive for all of six years. Lily was beginning to tire, the amount of money being thrown into new clothes nearly every day was expensive.

Aloy, being a child with her own thoughts came up with a plan...wear men's extra large as a dress until she stopped growing. Another year passed and finally, Finally, Aloy had stopped growing although now, she had aged another six years. As of 2014, Two years after The battle of New York and Aloy's birth, the child herself had grown the span of twelve years, in just Two.

Steve was astounded, amazed. it was remarkable, the powers that Aloy had been born with. She had her mothers regeneration but other powers had been her own, like the blue energy shield that protected her mother during the battle of New York, she had the invisibility which explained why Lily no longer had it and then there was teleportation - A power she had been forbidden to use until she had gotten control it. Lily herself, was still in the dark of the powers she had gained as a result of the small syringe White Dragon had stabbed her with.

They had moved to Queens, much to Steve's sadness, he didn't want Lily or her daughter to be so far away from him in Washington. It was a four-hour drive on his part, On her part...like a 2 or 3-hour flight, which is tiring, even for a mutant. Although some things were worth driving 4 hours for. Like Today, Lily and her daughter Aloy had taken a field trip to the Smithsonian on what so happened to be the same day Steve had decided to go.

''How much did you love daddy, Mama?'' Aloy asked her mother, staring at the photo of James Buchanan Barnes in the Captain America exhibit of the museum.

''More than anything.'' Lily paused before looking down at her daughter and smiling. ''Well, used to be more than anything until you came along. I love you both, more than I can explain.''

Steve watched as Lily's hand raised to her chest, feeling the necklace around her neck with a sad smile towards the picture of Bucky. Steve knew she still missed him as though it were the day he died, as though no time had passed at all. He walked over, his hand coming up to grip her elbow which in turn caused her head to whirl round to face him.

Steve nodded his head in a certain direction and Lily followed without question, pulling her daughter along with her.

They visited Peggy, who had barely even remembered before it had all gone on the wind. The woman who was once her closest friend beside Steve was now old, grey and fragile, Lily wished she had grown old with her friend, wished she had spent more time with her and even Howard before they were virtually gone.

''Where you off to next?'' Lily asked Steve as they walked from the building that housed Peggy.

''A V.A.''

Eyebrows raised ''You need a VA?''

''No. I made a friend.'' Steve chuckled. ''Might go talk to him.''

''You do that, I'm gonna go to a hotel to hold up in for the night, Not ready to go just yet.'' Lily waved to Steve, parting off in a different direction. It was just for the night, she just needed a room for Aloy to hold up in, the twelve-year-old girl didn't much like driving for too long twice in one day.

Of course, the night wasn't as uneventful as she wished when she received a text so late with only numbers. 1513. Lily counted in her head and when she figured it out her face fell. ''Aloy.'' She called to her daughter who was fast asleep at the time, she groggily opened her eyes and wiped them clear of sleep.

''I have to go somewhere. You stay here. Do not open the door for anyone unless they do it okay?''

Aloy's face expressed fear as she nodded. ''Okay Mama.''

Lily left her credit card on the table for her daughter, as well as keys and a burner phone in case of emergencies. Downstairs in the lobby, Lily instructed that only one person were to deliver and enter the Hotel room. She chose a maid named Ashley, taught the woman the secret knock that told Aloy she was to be trusted and allowed to open the door for.

Once that was done, Lily walked out into the night. Ambulances were heard through the air when she grew close to Steve's apartment, and instead of continuing, she followed them.

She saw Steve waiting, watching the surgery on Fury. Maria wasn't too far away on the other side of the room.

''What happened?''

''How are you here.''

''He texted me.'' Lily explained, ''a code we set up. He sent me 1513, which basically means get to a safe house.'' Moments after the explanation, Natasha came walking in, placing herself at Lily's other side.

''Is he gonna make it?'' She asked, staring right at Fury on the doctor's table.

''We don't know.'' Steve and Lily said together.

''Tell me about the shooter''

''He's fast, Strong. Had a metal arm.''

''Ballistics?''

''Three slugs, no rifling. Completely untraceable.'' Maria explained.

''Soviet-made''

Maria and Lily both turned to look at Natasha who had known the make of the bullets. ''Yeah''

Nick's heart stopped just then, the doctors rushed to save his life but the monitor never beeped again. The steady sound rang through Lily's ears as the man who helped her settle in this time had died right there in front of her. First Phil, now Nick, both were there the moment she arrived and both had been there since. Until New York, Until now.

Lily refused to cry. She waited for Steve to come back out, she refused to see Nick's body laying on the table so close as Natasha was doing right this minute. Natasha and Steve came out later than she expected, Natasha asked why Fury was in Steve's apartment when a Shield agent, Rumlow, said that they needed Steve.

Lily watched as Steve put something into the vending Machine beside him, which was open for restocking. He winked as he walked past her, Though Fury said to trust no one, Steve knew he could trust Lily with everything.

She walked over to the vending machine, throwing in some coins to buy a chocolate bar as a cover for looking at what Steve had put in there. Smiling when she saw it. Grabbing the sweet she had paid for, Lily walked away and out of the hospital.

Fury was smart

* * *

Small **changes**


	16. Chapter 16

Lily received a text, the only words were a location which she happened to already be in. Sporting a large summer hat and floral dress, Lily paced the floor of an Apple store, awaiting her friends when she saw them enter.

She took her place nearby, pretending to look at two laptops to see which was better. Natasha checked the hard drive that Fury left for Steve, while Steve took a quick look round the room and spotted the out of place hat. Blue and green eyes stared at him from underneath the straw sun hat, he smiled, knowing she was always gonna have his back in literally everything.

Natasha was slightly caught off guard as the computer she was using was being hacked, only to be calmed by Steve who pointed in Lily's direction, whose fingers were flicking across the keyboard at an alarming rate. As soon as Natasha and Steve got their information off the drive and Lily got what she needed, the drive was pulled from the laptop, and Lily pulled a phone from the connection with the laptop she was using.

Steve and Lily looked at each other again and Lily lifted a finger to wipe her nose twice. Steve nodded, getting the message before he and Natasha exited the shop, Natasha was confused on what Lily's action meant and didn't like leaving the woman alone in the store where a bunch of enemy agents were about to gather. 5 minutes passed and Lily saw them enter, pulling the decoy hard drive from her pocket, she held it in plain view as she walked past the agent, bumping into his shoulder on the way past to grab his attention.

It only took a couple of minutes for at least four agents to gather and tail her, thinking she had the hard drive. It only took a couple of minutes for her to weave in and out of large groups, only needing to hide for few seconds to pull off her hat and sundress, changing clothes instantly from dress and hat to shirt and shorts. The agents lost her in the crowd and she was able to meet with Steve and Natasha.

She met them outside where Steve had acquired a car and pulled up beside her to let her get in. The drive to New jersey had started.

''Where did Captain America learn how to steal a car?'' Natasha asked, sitting in the passenger seat.

''Nazi, Germany and we're borrowing. Take your feet off the dash.''

Natasha smiled but did remove her feet. ''All right I have a question for you, which you do not have to answer. I feel like if you don't answer it though you're kinda of answering it, you know.''

''What?''

''Was that your first kiss since 1945?''

''You kissed him!?'' Lily question in surprise.

''That bad huh?''

''I didn't say that?''

''So it was good?'' Lily grinned, wanting to know.

''Well it kind of sounds like that's what you're saying''

''No, I didn't. I just wondered how much practice you've had''

''You don't need practice.''

''Everybody needs practice.'' Both Natasha and Lily said together.

''It was not my first kiss since 1945. Im 95 not dead.''

''Why have you not told me? who are you kissing?'' Lily fired her questions, curiosity getting a hold of her.

''Nobody special, though?'' Lily ooh'd at Natasha's question, liking that one.

''Believe or not, it's kind of hard to find someone with shared life experience.''

Lily's head appeared between the two front seats. ''We have shared life experience. We could always makeout.'' Natasha grinned and pointed at Lily. Both girl thoroughly enjoying the interrogation.

''Tink!''

''I just- What!? You're my best friend, not my brother! I don't want a relationship but I could do with being kissed right now. Okay, I deserve it and who better to trust than my best friend?''

''You can just make something up?'' Natasha offered her solution.

''What like you?'' Steve said in reply.

''I don't know. The truth is a matter of circumstance. It's not all things to all people all the time. Neither am I''

Lily sat back against the backseat, sighing as she interjected. ''That's a tough way to live.''

''It's a good way not to die though.''

''You know, It's kinda hard to trust someone when you don't who that someone really is.''

''Yeah'' Natasha agreed. ''Who do you want me to be?''

''How about a friend?''

''Well there's a chance you might be in the wrong business, Rogers.''

The rest of the car ride was silent and when they arrived at their destination by nightfall, Lily was thrown back into the past. ''This is it.'' Steve said, getting out of the car with Natasha and Lily following.

''The file came from these coordinates.''

''So did I'' Steve informed as they went to walk into to Camp Lehigh. Natasha was

''This camp is where I was trained.''

''Change much?''

''A little''

''Sergeant Duffy was entertaining.'' Lily smiled, reminiscing her days during the war.

''This is a dead end. Zero heat signature, zero waves, not even radio. Whoever wrote the file must have used a router to throw people off.'' Steve nudged Lily, nodding his head in the direction that he had noticed it. Lily let out a huff when she saw it, both of them knowing that it should not be there. ''What is it?'' Natasha added her question when she saw their faces.

Lily and Steve started to walk over to the building with Natasha following ''Army regulations forbid storing munition's within five hundred yards of the barracks. This building is in the wrong place.'' Steve uses his shield to bash the padlock off the door. Walking down a set of stairs into a dark room, not much was seen until Natasha found and switched on the light.

''This is S.H.I.E.L.D''

''Maybe where it started.''

The three continued to explore the old base, going through a door to be greeted with Three pictures on the wall in front. Three very welcome faces. ''There's Stark's father.''

''Howard.'' Both Lily and Steve said together, a small smile on Lily's face. She did miss everyone from the war, Howard, Peggy, the rest of the howling commando's.

''Whos the girl?'' Steve and Lily didn't reply, just stared for a moment longer before turning and walking further down the room. Steve stopped by a large bookshelf, the whistling through the cracks let on that it wasn't what it seemed. ''

If you're already working in a secret office...'' Steve digs his fingers between the crack of two bookshelves, pulling it open to reveal an elevator. ''Why do you need to hide the elevator?'' Natasha used S.H.I.E.L.D tech to hack the code on the elevator to get it working for them, as soon as the doors open, in they went. At the bottom, when the doors pend again, another dark room awaited.

Slowly did they walk through, lights automatically turning on when they sensed movement.''This can't be the data-point, this technology is ancient.'' Natasha looked amused until she saw the little black usb port on the table in front.

''That, not so much ancient.'' Lily joked, tapping the black and blue Port. Natasha wiggled her eyebrows, bringing out the flash drive and giving it a thoughtful tap before slipping it into the Port. As soon as she did, the technology flared to life.

''Initiate system?''

''Y-E-S, spells yes.'' Natasha types on the outdated keyboard, smiling and adding, "Shall we play a game?" before turning to Steve to explain ''It's from a movie that...''

''Yeah, I saw it.''

''I made him.'' Lily beamed proudly.

''Rogers, Steven. Born, 1918. Akiyama, Lillian. Born, 1918. Romanoff, Natalia Alianovna. Born, 1984.'' The old camera above the large monitor moved from Steve to Lily to Natasha, spewing information.

''It's some kind of a recording.''

''I am not a recording, Fräulein. I may not be the man I was when the Captain took me prisoner in 1945, but I am.'' On a smaller screen beside the bigger, a picture of a familiar man was shown, giving Lily and Steve an idea of who this thing was supposed to be. Natasha looked confused and asked her question.

''Do you know this thing?''

''Arnim Zola was a German scientist who worked for the Red Skull. He's been dead for years.'' Steve looked confused, as did Lily, she recognised this man's face despite not having actually met him.

''First correction, I am Swiss. Second, look around you. I have never been more alive. In 1972 I received a terminal diagnosis. Science could not save my body, my mind, however, that was worth saving on two hundred thousand feet of data banks. You are standing in my brain.''

''How did you get here?''

''Invited,'' Zola answered with energy.

Natasha elaborated on the one worded answer Zola gave.''It was Operation Paperclip after World War II. SHIELD recruited German scientists with strategic value.''

''They thought I could help their cause. I also helped my own.''

''HYDRA died with the Red Skull.''

Zola screen briefly showed the HYDRA logo ''Cut off one head, two more shall take its place.''

''Prove it.'' Lily demanded.

''Accessing archive.'' On the screen, a small film started to play, showing clips from World war 2. ''HYDRA was founded on the belief that humanity could not be trusted with its own freedom. What we did not realize, was that if you try to take that freedom, they resist. The war taught us much. Humanity needed to surrender its freedom willingly. After the war, SHIELD was founded and I was recruited. The new HYDRA grew. A beautiful parasite inside SHIELD. For seventy years HYDRA has been secretly feeding crisis, reaping war. And when history did not cooperate, history was changed.''

''That's impossible, SHIELD would have stopped you.''

''Accidents will happen.'' Lily's hand came up to cover her mouth in shock as the headline of Howard and his wife's death was shown on the screen. The loss hadn't been as great thinking it was just an accident but now knowing HYDRA had killed him was worse. ''HYDRA created a world so chaotic that humanity is finally ready to sacrifice its freedom to gain its security. Once the purification process is complete, HYDRA's new world order will arise. We won, Captain. Your death amounts to the same as your Life; a zero sum.'' Steve grew angry and as a result, smashed the computer screen, yet Zola just appeared on another. ''As I was saying...''

''What's on this drive?''

''Project Insight requires insight. So I wrote an algorithm.''

''What kind of algorithm? What's it's purpose?'' Lily once again demanded answers, a funny feeling bubbling up in her stomach was uneasy. She was shifting between her feet, fiddling and Steve had noticed, Steve knew something was wrong.

''The answer to your question is fascinating. Unfortunately, you shall be too dead to hear it.'' the doors behind them start to close and Steve through his shield to try and stop it as did Lily fly forward to intercept even an inch but they were too late. Lily's hands slammed against the metal of the door and Steve's shield simply bounced off the walls back to him.

''Guys, we got a bogey. Short range ballistic. 30 seconds tops.''

''Who fired it?''

''S.H.I.E.L.D.''

'''I am afraid I have been stalling, Captain. Admit it, it's better this way. We're both of us...out of time.'' Steve, seeing a small opening in the ground, ripped the grate off and turned to hold his hand out to Natasha. She reached him as the walls blew out.

''Lily!'' Lily flew at the call of her name, reaching the little alcove just in time for the wall of collapse over her. Steve held his shield above his head for any protection as he held Natasha close. Lily tried to reposition the large wall to add more cover at the expense of more rubble falling on her as she worked. When everything stopped falling, Steve removed the cover that Lily had made.

''Nat.'' Lily groaned, her hand resting on the assassin's cheek to try and wake her up.

''We got to go.'' Steve said, coughing as he turned to pick Natasha up.

''I have her!'' Lily growled, stopping Steve from Piking Natasha up in favour of doing it herself. Steve led the way as Lily carried her friend, both them stopping a moment to see a jet arrived, not wanting to get caught, both of them pushed their limits to get out of the area quickly.

* * *

 **No changes**


	17. Chapter 17

''Whose house is this?'' Lily asked as the three walked up to the front door. Natasha had woken up some time ago on their way back to Washington.

''A friend's,''' Steve answered vaguely, raising his hand and knocking on the glass door. A few moments later and a man opened the door with a confused look. He was tall, dark-skinned and he thoroughly attractive. This must have been the Sam Wilson Steve had mentioned.

''Hey man.'' He greeted.

''I'm sorry about this. We need a place to lay low.''

''Everybody we know is trying to kill us.''

''Not everyone.'' He answered, moving aside to let them in. Once in, he looked around to make sure no one saw before closing the door and dropping the blind. He turned around to see Lily staring right at him, floating in the air, her left arm unmoving and held tight to her side and it unnerved him

''Listen hot stuff, I really, really need food.'' She told him. ''I have four broken ribs, a broken ankle, a cracked collarbone and a dislocated shoulder and they're not healing because I haven't eaten. Meat wors best but literally any will do as long as you don't mind me completely inhaling it.''

Sam's eyebrows furrowed, ''Bathrooms just down there, Steve.'' He spoke to Steve before looking at Lily. ''I'ma get you some food.''

''You are my best friend right now.'' She grinned in relief, following Sam into the kitchen. She watched him pull out food from his fridge and utensils and every minute he was working, her stomach just got louder. ''Don't mind my Whale impressions.'' Sam chuckled as he worked on the food.

''So healing..'' He started.

'' Non-human abilities,'' Lily explained. ''I can heal myself from even the worst wounds, for example, world war 2 an entire building blows up, burns all over me and two minutes later not a scratch. If I've got the energy, nothing short of a bullet to the head can kill me.''

''That's awesome.'' Lily grinned at Sam, knowing they were going to get along splendidly. Once the food was done and on plates, Sam went to retrieve the other two from the bedroom. Who joined not two minutes later to see Lily inhaling her share, bones could be heard cracking from across the room.

''So the question is: Who in SHIELD could launch a domestic missile strike?'' The talk started as Natasha placed the question in the air.

''Pierce.''

''Who happens to be sitting on top of the most secure building in the world,'' Lily stated, swallowing the bread she had nicked off Steve's plate.

''But he's not working alone, Zola's algorithm was on the Lemurian Star,'' Steve said, sitting beside Lily at the table, watching as she healed but she was still quite dirty.

Natasha dropped a wet hand towel in front of Lily so she could clean up ''So was Jasper Sitwell.''

''So, the real question is: how do the two most wanted people in Washington kidnap a SHIELD officer in broad daylight?''

''The answer is: you don't.'' Sam dropped a photo and file on the table in front of Steve.

''What's this?'' he asked, standing to his feet

''Call it a resume.''

Natasha picked up the photo on the top, Lily using her flight to hover over them all and see the photo as she used the hand towel to clean up her face ''Is this Bakhmala? The Khalid Khandil mission, that was you.'' Natasha turned to Steve ''You didn't say he was a para-rescue.''

''Is this Riley?''

''Yeah.''

''I heard they couldn't bring in the choppers because of the RPGs. What did you use, a stealth chute?''

''No. These.'' Sam handed Steve the file, inside was ablueprintt, picture and information on what he had used.

''Ooh, those are nice.'' Lily grinned, admiring the technology.

''I thought you said you were a pilot.''

Sam chuckled ''I never said pilot.''

''I can't ask you to do this, Sam. You got out for a good reason.''

''Dude, Captain America needs my help. There's no better reason to get back in.''

''Shortstacks not all that you know.'' Lily teased, throwing her now healed arm around Steve's shoulders. ''But... Where can we get our hands on one of these bad boys?''

''The last one is at Fort Meade, behind three guarded gates and a twelve-inch steel wall.'' Steve looks to Natasha who shrugs her shoulders, not really caring about the Guarded gates and twelve-inch steel wall.

''Shouldn't be a problem.''

''Right well you do that. I'll join you after.''

''You're not coming?''

Lily gave Steve an appalled look. ''Did...Did you seriously just forget Aloy?'' Steve's face dropped into realisation, all that had happened had wiped his mind of anything remotely normal. ''I left my daughter in a hotel room alone. HYDRA is still walking about which means the Order of Draco could still be walking about and my daughter, who -by the way- knows nothing about this, is alone! So yes! Im not coming!''

Lily turned to Sam. ''Thank you for everything.'' Looking back to Steve. ''I'm not losing my daughter. She is the closest thing I have to Buck, she is my entire world and I will literally tear this planet apart if she is not where I left her.''

Lily walked from Sam's house, the entire building was silent and Steve knew he had annoyed Lily by focusing more on the enemy than the small, nearly unprotected girl that was all alone.

The hotel was busy as usual, maids and waiters were walking about, bellboys and managers. Lily walked up the stairs and when she arrived outside the room she had left her daughter in, she knocked that secret knock that only those two knew. The door was thrown open almost instantly, the hopeful face of Aloy turned to Glee when she saw her mother.

''Mom!'' Aloy threw herself forward to hug her mother. Lily smiled, stroking her daughters long brown hair. ''What happened!? You were gone for so long.''

Lily moved them both inside and shut the door behind them, locking it from the inside.''I know, It's getting dangerous now. I can't protect you if you're not with me so now, you're with me all the time okay?''

''I get to fight!?'' Aloy looked excited.

''No. Mommy fights, the daughter hides.'' Aloy's face falls in disappointed. ''I know honey, but I can't risk you teleporting somewhere I can't find you. So you hide and you use your shield okay?''

''Okay, Mama. Also, you need to shower.'' Lily laughed and patted her daughters head, walking into the bathroom to shower, once done, she dried her hair and put on a pair of black jeans and a black vest top. Just as she pulled on her boots, a scream was heard and someone fell past the window. ''What was that?!''

''Let's go find out.''

Upon the roof, she was greeted with the sight of Steve, Natasha and Sam with one Jasper Sitwell. Who, when he saw Lily walking through the door of the roof, backed away to keep distance between them. ''Hi there! I see you know who I am.'' She saw Aloy dart past her and go to hug Steve, Aloy loved Steve so much.

Amused was an understatement. ''Aloy, this is Sam.'' She spoke to her daughter, gesturing to Sam, who was sporting his pair of Mechanical wings. ''Sam, My daughter Aloy.''

''Hey sweetie.'' Sam greeted as Aloy gave a cheerful wave.

''What's going on up here? Are we playing a game of who survives being kicked off a roof?''

''We found out what the Algorithm is,'' Steve informed. ''We're going to the Triskelion.''

''Let's go then. also, Aloy's coming with us, because im not leaving her alone again''

Natasha and Steve shared a sigh as they watch Aloy follow her mother with a spring in her step. She was a small girl, knowing when to follow her mother and when to hide from danger, it's why they weren't too worried about Aloy in harm's way. Nothing could touch Aloy and get away with it.

* * *

 **No changes. You know, everytime i write that...i keep thinking of David Bowie.**

 **~Ch-ch-ch-ch changes (turn and face the strain) ch-ch-changes. Don't wanna be a richer man~**

 **...**

 **I love David bowie. XD**


	18. Chapter 18

Lily took her car while the others took a different one and she drove alongside them on the highway bridge. ''Whats going on, Mama?'' Aloy spoke, picking up her little toy elephant. Aloy wasn't a toy sort of child but she had loved this soft little blue elephant since she was in diapers and she always took such good care of it.

''A group of bad people want to take away freedom. We've got to stop it.'' Aloy opened her mouth to reply, when Sam's car swerved into their lane, Looking over and Lily saw the broken window and the metal-armed man on the roof. ''Aloy.''

''Yes Mama!'' Aloy ducked into the backseat with her elephant gripped tightly in her hand, after fastening her seatbelt in the back, a blue circle grew around her, swirling with energy. Aloy had known with only the call of her name that she had to protect herself, the danger was imminent and she knew to follow her mother's orders. Sam and Lily braked at the same time, the man on the roof being thrown forward, although he used his metal arm to dig into the concrete and slow his roll.

He stood there staring for a moment until a large car rammed up the back of their car, pushing it forward towards the man. Lily assumed this was the winter soldier. The ghost story Natasha had mentioned once. Pushing the gas, Lily tried everything to ram the large 4x4 away from Sam's car, noting the way that the Winter Soldier ripped the wheel from Sam's hands.

The winter soldier then jumped from the roof to the bonnet of the car behind, Lily stopped her ramming assault to catch up with Sam, Steve and Nat. Though Sam still lost control of his Chevrolet due to the missing wheel, the car spun out of control and a little bit behind it was all three on the car door, Sam was the first to roll away from the disconnected door. Lily turned her wheel and skipped to a stop, her car acting as a shield between the enemy and her friends.

''Out!'' She called out to Aloy, opening her door and abandoning the car. Aloy did the same, the blue sphere still swirling around her and she the initiative, not leaving her elephant behind, Aloy sprinted towards Sam, the blue Sphere growing to accommodate for the bigger person. The winter soldier shot a grenade towards Steve and Natasha, the two split up and Steve using his shield only knocked him back and off the bridge.

Sam took Aloy's hand and pulled her behind a nearby car when he saw her wince at the bullet that connected with her shield. ''I've never had to practice for bullets. Mom wouldn't shoot them at me. I didn't expect them to be so forceful''

''You need to go. Find cover.''

Aloy nodded and ran from Sam, the blue sphere shrinking back to cover just her as she did what he said. She spotted her mother, speeding towards the Winter soldier and grabbing the barrel of his gun away from shooting at Natasha, her feet placed themselves on his waist and her fist was thrown forward to connect with his head.

It did barely anything, The winter soldier barely stumbled back, a bullet lodged itself into Lily's waist the moment the winter soldiers hand wrapped around her forearm. With strength from the metal arm, she was ripped away and thrown off the edge of the bridge.

Aloy's visage vanished from sight, as did her shield as she tried to figure out a way to follow her mother. It was too high for her to jump, she could teleport but her mother said not to; either way, her mother would be upset. Picking an option, Aloy spread her feet for balance and focused, in the blink of an eye, she had moved from the bridge to the road under and only stumbled to her knees.

Lily looked for her daughter, hoping Aloy had gone invisible as she followed after Natasha. Winter soldier had blown up a car thinking Natasha was there due to the recording the woman had left. Natasha, after trying to choke the soldier out, managed to throw and small emp at his arm and run, though it didn't last long and she was shot in the shoulder.

The gun in his hands was then ripped from him with blue energy. Lily felt her heart stop as he looked around, trying to pinpoint where the threat was. The thing with Aloy's invisibility was that it hadn't matured, if you looked carefully, you could still see her visage moving about, like the wobbling of surroundings when it's too hot. The winter soldier picked his gun back up and aimed it, right for where Aloy was.

''No!'' Lily screamed, trying to distract the soldier. The bullet was still shot and it collided with Aloy's shields, bringing her visage back into sight just as Lily slammed herself into the body of the soldier, taking him down to the ground and straddling him. ''Don't touch my daughter!'' Lily's hands and cheeks turned red, steam blew from her mouth as she breathed heavily.

There was a whole minute of silence, a whole minute of stillness. Lily stared into Blue eyes and the winter soldier stared into blue and green ones. they looked so familiar to her, and for a minute, she forgot about her anger before snapping back to reality. She huffed in the soldier face, surprising both him and her at the fire that followed the steam.

In his momentary blindness, Lily flew off of him and towards her daughter, Scooping Aloy up off the ground and into a secluded hidden spot. ''What were you thinking!?'' She screamed in a whisper at her daughter. ''That was the most dangerous thing to do!''

''He was going to kill aunty Nat!''

''That doesn't matter!'' Lily replied, eyes watering with fear. ''You forget you're not actually 12 years old! You have been on this earth for two years! You are still my baby! you run and you hide! Do not engage again!''

''Yes. Mama. I'm sorry. '' And Aloy was. she knew her mother wasn't really mad at her, just frightened and that she almost lost her child. Aloy knew she wasn't as old as she looked, she always forgot that her mother still viewed her as a baby and not a child who knew more discipline and rules than most children her age.

The winter soldier knew where they had gone, of course, he did. He was a master assassin, but he left them be for reasons not even he knew. The eyes he looked into made him feel weird like he had seen them somewhere before.

Peeking out from the hiding spot, Lily watched Steve fight the winter soldier as she held tight to her daughter's hand. Steve saw them out the corner of his eyes, moving his tactics to get the soldiers back facing them, as soon as he had thrown the soldier over him, Aloy disappeared and left the scene unseen. Lily came out to help Steve fight until she saw the mask lying on the floor.

At steve's side, she waited in suspense, for the soldier to turn around and reveal a face she hadn't seen in such a long time. Tears welled immediately in Lily's eyes, falling as soon as they appeared, Steve stood up straighter and said the name in confusion. ''Bucky?''

The winter soldier was confused, he didn't know this name, he didn't know these people. He didn't know why the woman he had just fought was staring at him with tears streaming down her face like he was someone she knew and thought dead. He didn't know, he didn't remember. ''Who the hell is Bucky?'' The soldier replied, bringing up his pistol to fire it until Sam came in with the save.

Bucky stood there after rising from the floor as a result of the kick Sam gave. He looked at Steve who held no more incentive to fight, then to the Lily who took a couple of steps towards him before he lifted his pistol again. He didn't get to shoot as he had to duck away from the tiny rocket coming his way, courtesy of Natasha, who was leant up against a car behind them all.

Lily was still crying as S.H.i.E.L.D cars and bikes pulled up, agents pouring out of them and demanding they get on their knees. Lily had no fight, dropping to her knees immediately and continuing to cry. She couldn't stop the emotions, she was so happy Bucky was alive but so mad towards HYDRA for turning him into a monster, and then just sad that he didn't remember who she was.

All four were handcuffed and put into the back of the truck, headed to their own graves. ''Steve,'' Lily whispered, near enough shellshocked at what just happened. ''Please tell me I'm not dreaming and that was him. Tell me that was my man and not some damn good lookalike.''

''It was him.'' Steve replied with confirmation. ''He looked right at us like he didn't even know us.''

''How is that even possible. It was, like, 70 years ago.''

''Zola.'' Steve and Lily said together. ''Bucky's whole unit was captured in '43. Zola experimented on him. Whatever he did helped Bucky survive the fall. They must have found him and-''

''I knew something was wrong. I still let you go. I should have made both of you stay. ''Lily interrupted, wiping fresh tears off her face.

''None of that's your fault, guys.''

''Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky.'' Steve looked down at Lily. ''We'll get him back.'' He said lowly, so the others couldn't hear as Sam said they needed a Doctor for Natasha.

''If we don't put pressure on that wound, she'd gonna bleed out here in the truck.'' One of the two guards in the back with them brandished their electric stick with the underlying threat, a moment of stillness passed and the guard turned it in their hand and stunned their colleague before kicking him in the head. They removed the helmet to reveal a most welcoming face.

''That thing was squeezing my brain.''

''Maria.'' Lily whispered with Relief.

''Who's this guy?'' Maria asked, looking at Steve, confused on who Sam was.

''I'm so glad to see you.'' Lily smiled, wanting to hug her friend. ''That's Sam Wilson by the way. He fed me so he's our best friend now.''

''Hello Best friend.'' Maria grinned, amused. ''Good to see you. Come on, Aloy's waiting.''

Maria cut a hole in the bottom of the truck with a handy dandy piece of technology and the proceeded to remove the handcuffs and one by one did they set themselves free of the HYDRA cars taking them to their graves.

There was a van waiting nearby, tailing them no doubt to pick them up when they escaped. Aloy got out and ran to her mother, wrapping her small arms around her mother's waist and walking along with her. Steve gave Lily a look and Lily nodded back, knowing she had to tell her daughter who the man with the metal arm was now that they knew.

When they arrived at a secret facility and walked inside, a man came running towards them. ''GSW. She's lost at least a pint.'' Maria informed

''Maybe two'' Steve added.

''Let me take her!''

''She'll want to see him first!''

''See who now'' Lily asked the question written on Natasha's drowsy face. They were taken further in, turning into a room where none other than Director fury laid in a bed, recovering from his injuries. ''Of course.''

''About damn time.'' Nick said as Aloy skipped up to his side and placed her fluffy blue elephant beside him with a smile. Aloy loved Nick fury, ooh, boring uncle Nick fury with all the cool gadgets. Everyone stood by and awaited the explanation from Nick as to how exactly he survived.

''Lacerated spinal column. Cracked sternum, shattered collarbone, perforated liver, one hell of a headache.''

''Don't forget your collapsed lung.'' The Doctor spoke as he worked on Natasha's shoulder.

''Oh, let's not forget that. Otherwise, I'm good.''

''They cut you open, your heart stopped.'' Natasha stated, remembering back to the hospital after the accident.

''Tetrodotoxin B. Slows the pulse to one beat a minute. Banner developed it for stress. Didn't work so great for him, but we found a use for it.''

''Why all the secrecy? Why not just tell us?'' Steve asked.

''Any attempt on the director's life had to look successful.

''Can't kill you if you're already dead. Besides, I wasn't sure who to trust.'' It was silent for a few minutes, As Aloy sat in front of her mother while Lily braided her hair, she figured it was about time she told Aloy.

''Aloy, follow me please.'' Lily stood up, walking out the room. Aloy was confused, looking to the others for answers but no one was willing to share. Following her Mother, Aloy waited patiently for whatever explanation was about to come.

''You know your father right?''

''Yup. James Buchanan Barnes. Part of the Howling Commandos. He was loving and gentle, but also tough and rough.'' Lily laughed at her daughters answer. Aloy had always had good thoughts about her father. '' Fell to his death from a train, leaving you and Steve alone.''

''Yeah.'' Tears threatened their appearance again. ''But before that, He was captured, his whole unit. Prisoners of war behind enemy lines and Steve and I went to save them. We succeeded but no before the enemy did stuff.''

''Stuff?''

Lily nodded ''You father was experimented on during his time as a prisoner. We think that that is why he survived the fall from the train.''

''My ...He's alive? Daddy's alive?'' Aloy looked set to cry, hope swimming in her blue eyes

''That man...with the metal arm? That's daddy.''

Aloy's face fell immediately. ''But he tried to kill us? Tried to kill Aunty Nat and Steve.''

''I know, baby, I know. But he's not himself right now. He doesn't remember Steve, He doesn't remember me.''

''What about me?''

Lily shook her head as a tear fell down her cheek. ''Daddy didn't know you existed. You were conceived the day or after the day he fell off the train. And then...I was pushed forward in time and you were born a few months after the battle of New York.''

''We can get daddy back right? He's not gone...just...brainwashed. Memories are never truly forgotten.'' Lily smiled at her daughter, Aloy was always so full of hope and optimism. ''I saw back on the road when you protected me. You both just sat there looking at each other. I think he knew you or at least found you familiar. That's a crack in the...the brainwashing. Because you can make people forget memories but you cant make then forget feelings.''

''You're so smart. I'm so proud of you. Who you've become.'' Lily pulled her daughter in for a tight hug. ''He would love you so much.''

''He will.'' Aloy said, a promise in her voice.

* * *

 ** _No changes. =) Enjoy._**


	19. Chapter 19

Lily was sat with Aloy in her arms, the small child was asleep when Steve came walking up. ''I told her,'' Lily said quietly.

''What she say?''

''That we'll get him back. That you can make people forget memories but you can't make them forget emotions.'' Lily repeated her daughter's words staring at the wall in front of her with a blank look. ''I think she hopes the love Bucky had for me will bleed through and he'll remember.''

''No reason why it can't.''

Lily looked up at Steve with a tired expression. Noting that he held her blue elephant in his hands. ''That's a little too much hope to have. I don't think I have that much.''

''you don't need to have it. It's right there.'' Steve looked down to Aloy, still sleeping as hard as a rock. ''That's all the hope you need, She looks so much like him. It'll be hard for him to look at her and not feel like he's looking into a mirror.''

''Her eyes especially.'' Lily agreed.

''It's time to fight. Let's go.''

Steve had to get retrieve his old costume from the Museum, lucky enough that it still fit him before they headed to the Triskelion. Natasha was undercover and Sam, Steve and Maria were heading up into the control room. Lily and Aloy were standing unseen by the large water area where the ships would come up if they were launched.

''Lily!'' Steve said over the earpiece in her ear.

''We're on it.'' Lily said, standing on the ground with her daughter, hand in hand. ''Stay hidden, Mommy's gotta go to work.'' Lily placed her mask on her head and let go of her daughter's hand, becoming visible to the enemies searching the floor. She sprinted towards them, lifting her feet from the floor and landing on the shoulders of a soldier and throwing her fist into the side of his head.

He lost consciousness easily and she picked up his gun from the floor. ''I've said it before and I'll say it again, that's one freaky mask, Lily.''

''Thanks.'' She laughed, shooting a soldier on her left, the last of the soldiers around her.

''On your knees.'' A voice told her, looking towards it, Lily's face blanked. A man stood a little ways off, Aloy in his arms and a gun pointed at her head. ''Get. On. your knees.'' He repeated, obviously trying to get her to surrender but his arm was shaking, he didn't want to kill the child.

''Do you know who that is?'' Lily asked the man, pointing at her daughter. ''That's not just a random child. Which brings me to my other question, do you know who I am? Does this mask, ring any bells?'' She continued, taking off the mask and Helm, dropping them to the floor.

''I will kill her.''

''You can try.'' Lily stared the soldier down, his hand shook and he pulled down the hammer on the gun. ''You pull that trigger and you will die the most painful death anyone has ever felt.'' He stared, finger moving from the hammer to the trigger and he waited.

too long as it so happens, Aloy brought the heel of her foot onto the soldiers and reared her elbow into his crotch. He dropped his gun and released her, Aloy moved out the way as her mother flew towards him in a blinded rage. Taking him to the floor and screaming in his face as she punched it over and over again. ''Threaten my daughter! Did you really think that was a good idea!?''

''I'm sorry!'' The soldier pleaded through the blood, trying to lift his hands for protection.

''Sorry isn't going to cut it!'' She screamed again, a little bit of fire once more blowing from her mouth and nostrils. ''That's my daughter! You don't mess with Mama bear!'' The soldier was completely petrified, even in the midst of this attack he thought she wasn't so much Mama bear as she was Mama Dragon. Lily's hands wrapped around his throat and squeezed as she screamed, more fire blowing from her mouth like a real scaly creature of the old religion.

She continued to squeeze the soldiers throat, unaware of a new presence in the area. The winter soldier had appeared, none of the pilots stood a chance and Lily wasn't even aware of his presence until Aloy spoke.

''Mama! Behind you!'' Lily turned at the sound of her daughter's warning to see the one man she only ever wanted to look at come speeding towards her. She let go of the soldier and stood up, quickly kicked out her leg, her foot colliding with his chest. She didn't want to hurt him but she wasn't going to let him kill her. Blue energy connected with his head as he stumbled back from her kick.

The soldier, long forgotten, coughed and spluttered and ran from the scene; he was definitely handing in his resignation.

Too focused on Lily, he didn't try to find the attacker who wasn't trying to hurt him. ''Bucky!'' she called desperately as he came towards her, throwing a metal fist in her direction. She dodged it easily, but backed away to create distance, in turn, he kept walking forward. The next fist coming her way wasn't the metal one, she grabbed it, slipped under his arm and twisted it back.

Legs wrapped around his waist as her left hand held his right one in a vice grip, her right arm winding around his neck just enough to keep him breathing but not enough to be ripped away so easily. Bucky thrashed, and clawed at her arm, trying to pull her off him but so far, it wasn't working. ''Listen to me. Your name is James Buchanan Barnes. I am not your enemy.''

If he was listening, he didn't show it as he turned and knocked her against a nearby jet. Lily groaned in pain but continued to hold on. ''You know me. Remember. Lily? You and Steve called me Tinkerbell because I was small and I got angry so easily.''

Two more slams against a hard surface had Lily loosening her grip enough for him to pull her over his shoulder, pushing her into a sturdy wall, her legs still around his waist. He was pressed up against her, metal hand around her throat trying to choke her. ''Buck...'' she wheezed through his grip. ''Please.''

''Mommy!'' Bucky's hand faltered at the call, his eyes darting to the side to see the small brown haired girl clutching a blue elephant toy.

''You ..know.. me.'' Lily tried to get through to him. ''I know...you do..''

''Why..'' he whispered, feeling the familiarity in their position, in her eyes and her voice.

''You love me. Remember?'' She spoke easily, his hand no longer squeezing her throat. He looked down at her lips, at her neck, her chest and the necklace upon it, just everything about her was so familiar. His metal hand ripped the black jeans from her right leg, revealing the black dragon tattoo, he knew it was there, he didn't know how but he knew it was there.''See? How would you know that was there unless you knew me. I'm yours, buck.''

''No.'' Bucky's eyes wrinkled, as though remembering was causing him pain.

''Yes.'' Lily pushed. ''Look, over there. That little girl. She's your's too.'' Bucky's eyes once again glanced at the child who looked scared for her mother. She did look like him, it was hard not to see. Lily's legs dropped from Bucky's waist, he was so still as she moved, her hand pressing against his cheek and he winced. ''What did they do to you, love. You don't have to go back. We can leave together, no more fighting.''

Lily spoke quietly so as to not scare him away as she grew closer. If she could just ...one more time before he snaps back just to... and she was so close. He watched her, staring as she leant upwards, and she thought for a moment, she might actually get to kiss him one more time.

Lips brushed against each other and then he was gone, Like a ghost.

Lily dropped to her knees, hands curling in her hair. ''Mom!'' Aloy called, running over to her mother.

Lily lifted a hand to her ear. ''Buck's on his way, Steve. I almost got through to him. He snapped back though.''

'' _Are you and Aloy okay?_ '' Steve replied, hoping they were.

''Aside from my broken heart? Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let me know if you need help.''

''You okay, Mama?'' Aloy asked, even though she knew Steve had asked.

''I'm fine, Baby. We can rest now. The rest of the fight is up to Steve. There's only one more helicarrier to disable.''

''You don't like fighting do you?''

Lily laughed, sitting down with her daughter beside her. ''Not really. I ran away from my mother because I didn't like fighting, I joined the war to be near Bucky and Steve but I hated fighting. I do this because I'm needed, wanted on the team and to protect you.''

''I like protecting people.'' Aloy stated firmly, looking up to the Helicarrier that Steve was on.

'' _Charlie lock'_ ' Lily smiled as Steve got the last chip in.

'' _Okay Cap, Get out of there_.''

''If you jump, I'll catch you.'' Lily promised, getting to her feet and watching the Helicarrier from Steve's body free falling, growing confused when it didn't happen in the next 30 seconds. ''Steve?''

'' _Fire now''_

 _''But Steve_ -''

'' _Do it! Do it now!'_ '

''I'll catch you, Steve!'' Lily repeated again, waiting for any sign. The helicarriers were being destroyed and Lily' was so hoping she wasn't about to lose someone else. ''Time to move!'' Lily remarked as she grabbed her daughter and moved out of the way of the falling ships. She hovered in the air with her daughter, seeing Sam, Natasha and Nick in a helicopter. but her sights were still focused on the helicarrier that Steve was on.

The moment she blinked and opened her eyes again, she saw Steve already halfway towards the water underneath. ''No, no, no, please.'' She sped towards him, her daughter still in her arms, trying to find a safe spot to put her down. Only to stop flying at the sight of a second body falling but this one was conscious and had a metal arm.

Less desperate to save Steve, she landed on a bank beside the water, watching and waiting, walking along the bank until she saw Bucky pulling Steve out of the water. He dropped the unconscious man on the bank before turning and freezing at the eyes that watched him. He saw relief on her face, the woman of familiarity, the grin on the child's face.

He approached with a stern face, stopping in front of her and staring down. ''Is he alive?'' She asked, hoping he had pulled out an alive Steve and not a dead one. A small nod was her answer and he watched her smile, reaching up and pulling the necklace from around her neck. ''You gave this me and I want you to take it and try to remember, okay? Cause I love you, Bucky and I want you back. Until the end of the line.''

Bucky stared at the jewellery, slowly reaching up to take it from her, never did he expect her to quite literally jump on him; arms around his neck tightly but not in a threatening way. He was so confused. She cared for him greatly, someone who was supposed to be his enemy had just said that they loved him. He didn't resist, he just stood there.

He had no idea what to do when she pulled back and pushed her lips to his. He had no idea, he was frozen. The sight of the child behind the woman was confusing, she encouraged him to return it, she looked happy. He wondered if this was a good thing, as Lily adjusted herself against him, using her abilities to make her lighter. So he made the decision...

To kiss her back.

The hum of delight was heard from her immediately. A whole minute of just standing there, kissing the love she thought was dead seemed to good to be true. As she pulled back she whispered her address to him. ''So you know where to find us.''

Lily moved back, tried to memorise his appearance before rounding and going to check on Steve. Bucky swallowed thickly, walking towards the child, her smile wide and happy. She expected him to walk past her as he did, ''Bye Daddy.'' She bid him as she went to join her mother.

The winter Soldier left the area in secret, new feelings in his chest and confusing thoughts in his head; a necklace in his hand.

Lily got Steve to a hospital, Where Sam met her asked if she and her daughter were okay. Natasha came by to check up on Steve too, but other than that, It was just Lily, Aloy and Sam to keep Steve company. Sam brought food, and music to play Steve until the man woke up. It was a day or two before he woke up, ''On your left.''

Sam said nothing but smiled and Lily stood up. ''Good you're awake. I have to get going. This one..''' She gestured down to her daughter. ''...has missed enough school.'' Lily leant over, pushing a kiss against Steve's temple, Aloy tiptoeing to do the same against his cheek. ''Call you soon, Shortstack.''

The drive home again was long but calming, the gentle soundtrack that played was all that was needed, Aloy drifted off to sleep and Lily had to carry her inside the house when they arrived.

A couple of days later, when Aloy was at school, Lily had just gotten out of the shower, drying off and putting on clean underwear and an old shirt of Bucky's that Tony had given her, According to him, Howard had saved it after she had 'disappeared. A few minutes after dressing she got a call on her cell. ''Hey Steve.'' She answered after looking at the caller ID.

'' _Hey, how you doing?_ ''

''Oh im good, just got out of the- Lily cut herself off as she screamed quietly in surprise. There, in a dark corner was an equally as dark figure.

'' _Lily!? Lily what happened_.''

''Nothing.'' Lily lied as she realised who the person was. ''Stubbed my toe. You know me, Clumsy Tinkerbell.''

Steve chuckled on the other line as Bucky approached Lily, his steps as silent as the grave. He wore a simple shirt, hoodie and jacket, a hat with the hoodie's hood up over it and there were sunglasses resting on the table. Around his neck was the necklace she gave him. She mouthed 'Hi' and gave a small wave as he crossed the room.

''So what were you saying, Steve.''

'' _Natasha gave me a file. I thought maybe you'd want to help find Buck?_ ''

Bucky's eyes looked her over, from the neck down to the tattoo on her leg. he seemed comfortable knowing she wasn't giving him up ''You know I'd love to, But Aloy as missed too much School. Besides, you think maybe he just needs time to remember, to collect himself?''

'' _I get it. I just..need to know he's okay. I want to help him._ '' She barely listened to Steve, as Bucky fingered the shirt she wore, as though he was recognising it.

''Just, give him a few months to lay low before trying okay?''

''Yeah. Okay. I should then. Bye Tink.''

''Bye Shortstack.'' Lily hung up her phone and dropped it on to the couch. Staring up at Bucky with a smile. ''I didn't think you'd visit so soon.''

''I know this shirt.'' He spoke quietly.

''It's yours,'' she informed. ''I don't think it would fit you now, you've gotten...bigger.'' She added, placing a hand on his ...firm chest. ''Why are you here?''

''Did you mean it?'' At the squint of her eyes, he elaborated. ''You love me.''

Lily smiled and nodded. ''Of course. The winter soldier is not you. You were made into something you're not by bad people. You were a tool to them. You're free and I advise you take time for you. You don't have to come back, you don't have to visit if you don't feel up to it okay? But I'm here, and you can come anytime, can call anytime. This house is always open for you. As long as you are here, no one else will know.''

Bucky continued to stare at Lily, eyebrows furrowed as though he were remembering something. He lifted his real hand, placing it against the side of her neck, fingers moving wet strands of her hair away. Lily smiled at the sight of the curious blue eyes before closing her own.

The next thing her brain processed was looking up at her bedroom ceiling. She looked to her right, where he laid ''I remember that.''

Lily laughed, turning on her side. ''Of all things to remember.'' Though her smile fell immediately as a knock sounded on her door. ''Get dressed.'' She told Bucky as she got up and shoved on a robe, running to the door and opening it. ''Oh hey...Nat, what's up?''

Natasha's eyes squinted suspiciously, entering the house as she looked at Lily's appearance. ''I assume you got Steve's call, he said he would.''

''Yeh, yeah. I did.'' Lily confirmed, stuttering just a little. ''I said, you know, I couldn't. Aloy's missed too much school and that's important.''

''Where is he?'' Natasha said after a moments silence, walking through the house and up the stairs, into the master bedroom. Checking the bedroom, the bathroom, the wardrobe.

''Who?'' Lily answered, looking calm but her eyes expressing a look of fear that Natasha was going to find the exact reason for her state of dishevelment.

''You know who.'' Natasha accused. ''Why was he here in the first place?''

''No one was here, You know I showered and took a nap.'' Lily continued to lie as a dark figure slipped out of the window behind Natasha's field of view. Calming down knowing that Bucky had successfully left the area, Lily relaxed.

''I'm not stupid, Lily. Where is he?''

Lily sighed. ''He's not here. He came to get some things straight and he left.''

''I can't believe you didn't tell Steve!''

''He needs time.'' Lily defended. ''He spent so many years as a machine and now he can do whatever. He needs time to deal with all of it.''

''But apparently, he had the time for a quickie before he left?'' Natasha was accusing, it was all over her face. The raised eyebrow said she didn't believe anything Lily was telling her and it Lily right in the heart.

''That's not fair.'' Lily said, looking away from Natasha.''You know damn well it wasn't anywhere near a quickie. You, of all people, should know just how much i would have given anything for any kind of time with him. It already hurt enough to let him go, Don't rub it my face. Okay?''

Natasha had no answer as she watched Lily walk away without waiting for one. Natasha knew she overstepped, she had known what Lily was like any time she was even slightly reminded of Bucky. How painful it was to raise his child without him.

Natasha resisted the urge to hit herself in the face.

Why'd she say that?

* * *

 **Okay! Up to date! No changes in this one. But now i don't have as many holes as before. At least, I don't think so. Next chapter up soon.**


	20. Chapter 20

Sokovia. It's where she got it.

Well, not her per say. As a mostly Non-active member of the Avengers, Lily's first priority would always be her daughter but her curiosity always got the better of her. Lily twirls it in her hand, the vial of pale yellow liquid as she stares down at the file on her desk. ''The hell is written on that, Ma?''

Aloy scared her mother half to death, jolting her from her thoughts. ''It's uh, Latin, Darling.''

''I didn't know you can read Latin.'' Aloy mused, looking over her mother's shoulder with a glass of orange juice in her hand. ''What's it say?''

''Its a report on this.'' Lily waved the vial in her hand. ''I was injected with it in the 40's, it might be the reason that I jumped time but it doesn't say that specifically.''

''So what does it say?'' Aloy swiped the vial from her mother's hand, peering down at it with curiosity as she repeated the question she wanted an answer to. Sitting down next to her mother and looking over a few words that were written in English on the file. Aloy had started to grow like a normal human now, meaning only ever growing once a year like she was supposed to.

''Bunch of numbers, equations. Blah blah blah.'' Lily skimmed the page. ''Apparently, my mother knew I was a mutant, it states that she made this formula to accelerate the process or enhance. How she did it, I'm not sure. But this here, see it?'' Aloy nodded her head, looking down at the Latin her mother was pointing to. ''That stamp says that the first batch was injected and im guessing...judging by the number 2 on that vial, that that is the second batch.''

''What's it supposed to do?''

''Complete my abilities,'' Lily responded. ''Its evident that this is why you've grown so fast, why you've gotten your powers from even when you were in the womb. It makes me wonder though.''

''Wonder what?''

''How many mutants my mother went through before this was safe to use.'' It was silent for a while, Aloy played on her phone while her mother read the rest of the file that had been given to her by Steve after he returned from Sokovia. ''I should do it.'' Lily decided, standing from her seat while Aloy looked up to watch her leave. ''Their deaths can mean something if I can save some lives with it. I'll be back soon. The emergency card is in the drawer next to my bed.''

''Okay, Ma. Gonna throw a rad party while you're gone, hope that's okay, k thanks bye!''

Lily chuckled at her daughter's joke as she left the house, grabbing her keys on the way out and taking flight near enough immediately before anyone could see her. It was a Sunday morning, so hardly anyone was paying attention to outside to see the woman flying off in the air. She made a stop on the way for a syringe and her final destination was a secluded one.

Taking a stand by the edge of a little pond, holding out her arm with the needle ready to piece the vein. Barely wincing as it broke the skin, Lily had to wait a full minute before she even felt like something was happening; using her finger to pull at her collar, suddenly feeling very warm.

It wasn't stopping though, not even the cool breeze was calming the rising temperature that just kept climbing to the point that Lily took of her shoes and dipped them into the pond. Ten more degrees higher and Lily should have roasted herself to death but instead, flopped into the pond. Heavily breathing out fire with every exhale, her skin fading from the normal silky peach look to grey, slowly becoming black.

Lily gasped in pain when she felt her spine crack, her fingers and toes doing the same a moment later. All Lily's bones seemed to be moving, changing as her skin completed its colour change to a straight black, shining with a slight purple tint in the sun and when the pain got too much, even her sight went black.

Of course, she woke up, just a little differently, the pond she was in felt a little too snug and it was also sundown. There was also the fact that her arms and legs were got, as was her speech; when she tried to speak, nothing but steam and fire would come out. There was the added bonus of being able to look around without much restraint, her neck was longer.

Looking over herself, Lily realised why her mother wanted her to be the best of the Order, why she prioritised the brotherhoods future instead of her own daughters. The two-part serum, when together, acted as a catalyst to advance the X-genes properties, which is why Lily was now ...

A ten metre scaly beast with four legs and two wings.

It took a few more minutes to get the whole ' shapeshifting into a mythical beast' part down but she managed to do it, grateful to still have the power of flight without the need of the big black bat-like wings. Lily returned to the front door of her home at almost midnight, turning the key in the lock quietly to not disturb her daughter; who should have been sleeping..and she was.

Just not in bed.

You'd never really know that slight heart attack feeling when you see your daughter in the hands of a black visage. Panicking at the sight of her cuddled into a stranger until you realise...its not a stranger at all. Lily closed the door quietly behind her, walking over and gently removing Aloy from his arms and taking her to bed before returning. Unaware that Aloy had woken the moment she was left alone in her room.

''Hi.'' She breathed, pleased to see him. ''Why are you here? It's risky for you to be about so openly.'' She moved to close the blinds and curtains, just in case someone was out and about.

Bucky shifted on his feet nervously, unsure himself why he was even taking this risk ''I remembered more..from before.''

''Yeah?'' Hope was swelling and she couldn't stop it from showing in her voice. ''What did you remember?''

''The expo.'' He replied immediately, feeling a little more at ease as she smiled at him. Both unaware of the pair of eyes that watched from the stairs ''After, in the rain...the alleyway. Steve pushing bits of newspapers into his shoes. '' He rounded the coffee table to come and stand in front of her. ''It's mostly you. Memories of you in dresses, skirts and-''

''You don't have to push it.'' She interjected, placing a hand on his chest, seeing that explaining it so quickly was fogging his mind up in his rush to get it all out. 'It'll take as long as it takes But I am so happy you visited.''

''She wasn't scared to see me.'' Bucky stated.

''She's happy too.'' Lily smiled, stepping closer to be just about nose to chest with him. ''She always wanted to meet you, I told her so many stories about you that im sure she feels like she's known you her whole life.''

''I killed so many people.'' He whispered, retreating back into himself when Lily placed her hand on his cheek. ''I remember killing him, Tinkerbell. I killed Howard.''

The sound of her nickname from him gave a little more hope, but the way he seemed so broken about what HYDRA had made him do was breaking her own heart. Lily reached up with her other hand and cradled his face, gently stroking his cheeks with her thumbs as she placed a light kiss on his nose. ''I know, Honey, I know. It wasn't you. Not really, and he knew it. Im sure Howard knew it wasn't you.''

''Can...Can I stay?'' It didn't sound like him, nothing like the man he used to be and Lily hoped that man was somewhere still this broken one. She hoped he could be helped to the point where her man would pop back up and give her one of the disgusting sloppy kisses he used to give just to get on her nerves. ''Just for the night? Somewhere safe?''

''This your home too, you don't need to ask to stay. Come on.'' Lily dropped both her hands from his cheeks and gently grabbed his metal hand. He jumped, hesitating to let a woman he had obvious feelings for, touch the hand that had caused so much damage, but stopped when he looked at her face. The calm smile aimed at him as she pulled him towards the stairs - of which was now vacant of the daughter that had been eavesdropping - up them and towards the master bedroom.

''Jacket, shirt, Jeans and shoes off, love.'' She murmured, lovingly pushing a kiss to the clothes metal shoulder. Bucky watched her strip herself of her shirt, her shoes and jeans, even her bra before she slipped on a pair of shorts and a plain light pink tank top. Climbing into bed and waiting for him with that same gentle smile.

He hadn't even started removing his clothes until she had crawled under the covers, slowly starting with his shoes, then his jeans but hesitating when it came to his shirt. Knowing the moment it came off, her eyes would be drawn to the scar tissue that connected flesh to metal. Lily saw this, hoping he would be fine to continue giving her this little show she shouldn't be enjoying but was, only he wasn't comfortable; So she turned her head to the side and closed her eyes.

He didn't know what to feel when he saw her do it, pulling off his shirt and quickly covering himself with the covers of the bed. Laying rigidly next to her as opposed to the last time he was in this bed, calm as anything until they were interrupted by the knock on the door. ''No one is gonna come tonight, Buck. It's too late.'' He heard her mumble, sounding quite tired. ''Come here.''

He could see her arms opening, inviting him closer and he hesitated for a moment. More in his right mind that he was the last time, scared to let his guard down and then accidentally kill her because of one of his nightmares. She stayed that way, inviting until he finally gave in; wanting to hear her heart beating in her chest. ''Oh that's a little cold.'' She chuckled as she felt the metal arm slide over her stomach, under the fabric of her shirt, his head coming to rest on her chest between her breasts.

Bucky closed his eyes, hearing her heartbeat, feeling her hand on the back of his head and gently stroking to lull him to a hopefully peaceful sleep. ''You will always feel loved in the house.''

It was the last thing he heard before he fell asleep.

In the morning, he was alone, and that made him panic until he heard the muffled voices from downstairs. Getting up, he went to investigate, throwing on his shirt at the same time. ''Got your keys?''

''Yes, Ma! I have my keys.'' Aloy was heard answering as he quietly walked down the stairs.

''Finish your orange juice!''

''I was gonna!''

Bucky smiled at the domestic setting he saw from the staircase. Aloy rushing about in a pair of blue jeans, a white shirt with the words 'Mischief managed' on the front complete with a normal pair of black combat boots. Looking at Lily, he found she was still just wearing her nightwear.

''Your homework!'' She called, turning from the kitchen counter and holding out the folder holding many sheets of paper. Aloy gasped, unsure how she almost forgot it and taking it from her mother. ''Honestly, what would you do without me?''

''Miss an entire school day because my mom didn't wake me up.''

''Get out.''

''Thanks, Ma!'' Aloy grinned, kissing her mother's cheek and turning to run towards the door. Only just seeing her father on the staircase before she had completely set out on her journey. Turning again, Bucky watched Aloy jump up, step by step, using the bannister to get herself higher and pace a kiss on his own cheek. ''Bye, Dad!''

He watched Aloy run out the front door, letting it close fully before making his way into the kitchen. A plate of scrambled eggs on toast sitting there, untouched. ''Morning, sleepyhead.'' Lily greeted, rounding the kitchen island to kiss his forehead. ''How'd you sleep?''

''No nightmares.'' He answered, liking how this all seemed to come so naturally for some strange reason. He enjoyed the food as well, it was delicious. ''For once.''

''Good.'' Lily smiled, pulling her hair from the messy ponytail she had put it in. ''Wel, Im going to have a shower...If you're staying?''

''I shouldn't put you in more danger than I already have.''

Lily grinned, pulling her shirt up over her head. ''Are you sure...?'' She dragged out, hoping to get him to stay at least a little while longer.

''I shouldn't.'' He looked apologetic, heavily so. He didn't want to leave just as much as she didn't want him to leave. Lily wasn't going to push too much either, so instead, she dropped her grin, replacing it with a sad gentle smile and nodding her head.

''Yeah, Okay. I'll just go get your jeans and shoes.''

Bucky watched her retrieve the shirt she had dropped to the floor, not bothering to put it on as she jogged up the stairs. He thought over what he had just refused, had he been right in assuming she was offering to shower together?

Why had he refused it?

Because she could be in danger? No one knew he was there. Because he wanted to protect her? She was capable of defending herself, she had her own powers. Maybe it was because he felt strange around her, maybe he felt a little more human rather than a killer, than a machine.

Idiot.

The only normalcy he even slightly remembered and he's refusing it.

Bucky's feet moved quickly and silently, up the stairs and into the bedroom, his hands finding her waist without even needing to know where in the room she was.

Lily jumped in surprise as she was pulled back against a firm body. ''You're so quiet! You startled me.'' He went to apologise before he saw her smile. ''Changed your mind?''

She received no verbal answer, only the tell of his tongue swiping out to wet his bottom lip. Dropping in the jeans in her hand, Lily led her lover in the bathroom and felt the burning of his eyes on her while she stripped and stepped into the shower.

Hot water dropped from the showerhead after she turns on the tap, waiting for Bucky to strip himself of his own clothes and join her. Bucky didn't know what he loved the feeling of more, the hot water or her.

...

Her. Definitely her.

* * *

 **=) i have no idea where any of this came from. But i am skipping Age of ultron. I'll just summarise in the next chapter about what Lily and Aloy did during the robot uprising maybe.**


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